Nuclear Hunters
by Eralane
Summary: DantexNero. Nero finds a strange portal and Dante decides they should go through it, despite the other's protests, appearing into a world much like their own, only destroyed by nuclear war. Their decision to help a girl looking for her father soon becomes something much bigger, and a long-lost acquaintance of Dante makes a reappearance. Rated M for violence and possible sex later.
1. Chapter 1

Hello people! I'm writing this fic simultaneously with another one, and it will take priority until it's finished so this might not update as often. I got the idea for this after playing so much Fallout and writing Dante/Nero fanfiction that I couldn't help but wonder how it would work out in this kind of a setting. So, we'll see how it goes.

I'm not as familiar with Fallout 3's plot and environment as I am with Fallout: New Vegas's (as it is much simpler to me and I've played it more recently), so I need to play while I write xD In case it wasn't clear already, this fanfiction contains **major spoilers** for Fallout 3 main questline.

(I am NOT going to bother naming the chapters because if I start it I can't stop, and coming up with them is hell. Apologies)

* * *

Chapter 1.

Nero yawned loudly, stretching his arms and legs around on the couch at Devil May Cry. He put his hands under his head and looked around the place, drowzily. He wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep, but the atmosphere in the office was a lot different from when he first closed his eyes. Must've been a couple of hours. Dante was nowhere to be seen either. The boy stretched again, sitting up while doing so. He got up from the couch and walked around a little, thinking of something to do while he waited for the older man to come back from wherever he was.

He didn't have a chance to get to doing anything before one of the front doors opened and in walked a lady in white, short black hair and sunglasses covering her eyes, but Nero knew well enough who it was. She looked around a little before returning her gaze to the boy with a smile. "Well I'll be damned! Dante's gone off and left you behind? His most precious posession?" she chuckled.

Nero rolled his eyes with a snort. "It's not like we're never apart..." he said. His voice was hoarse from sleeping, more than he'd liked. It was true that mostly wherever Dante went, Nero followed. The girls would often comment on it, but never in a negative manner. Trish never failed to mention how adorable she thought it was that they were together so much. The negative comments came along when them being together involved too much public display of affection, aka making out. The boy laughed silently at the memory. "Anyways, what brings you here?"

Lady sat on Dante's desk, flipping the magazine on it to see its cover. "I got a few jobs the other day, thought maybe one of you could check out some of them for me. And by that I mean I'm going to pile the most boring ones on Dante", she smirked. "People mistake me for a mercenary while I'm nothing but a devil hunter. Dante's the one doing odd jobs and shit like that."

"Yeah, well, the old man does have a habit of turning down customers bringing jobs not related to demons", Nero sighed. "I don't mind checking them out, though. Ain't got nothing better to do in this dump..."

"Great! I'll just write down the details", Lady said and walked to the other side of Dante's desk, picking up a marker and searching for something to write on. Her eyes caught the magazine again, and a smirk rose to her lips. She opened it and flipped through some pages, and started writing directly on the first babe she found on it.

"Uh..." Nero was about to comment something on her actions, but realized there was probably nothing he could say that she didn't already know.

"There we go", she cheered and drew a heart at the end of the text. "I should be off now, don't want jobs piling on me. And I don't want to be here when Dante gets back", Lady snickered and left with a playful wink.

The boy snorted, making his way to the desk to read what Lady had written. He looked through all of the jobs until a less boring one caught his eye. "Disappearances, huh?" he muttered and read the details further. _'People missing, last seen at the gas station whatever-its-name-was, the one south from the park with_ _the_ _Sparda statue. You know what I mean._ _'_ Nero sighed. The 'details' didn't really say much. In any case, when people go missing it _might_ be demon-related. Even if Lady didn't think so about this one. He picked up his coat and weapons, leaving the place immediately. On his way out he glanced to both ways on the street to check if Dante happened to be on his way back. Which he wasn't. Nero snorted. "You better not be getting drunk somewhere..." he muttered as he started walking towards the park Lady had mentioned in the details.

He found the gas station where the disappearances happened. It was a small one, not much in use anymore. Nero had actually been there a couple of times with Dante, the owner was a fat, bearded guy with grease stains on his shirt that appeared way too small for him. The whole place was really gross, that was something both of the hunters agreed on. Wonder it still existed. The boy walked around the place, kicking empty soda cans on the ground as he walked. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. He wasn't sure where he should even start investigating. _'Not by going inside and talking to_ _ **that**_ _guy, that's for damn sure'_ , he thought and shuddered at the thought of the disgusting, foul smelling owner.

After a while walking around the small parking lot, he was half-convinced that the people who 'disappeared' there had just taken off and went somewhere else far away from this city. That was until he saw weird waves in the air, as if there was something hot underneath it. However the waves appeared to float on their own with no visible source. The air around the spot didn't feel warm either, at least from where Nero was standing. The 'waves' also seemed more clear than if caused by a fire. He had a bad feeling about it, and didn't want to get any closer or try fiddling with it. _'A portal of sort?'_ he thought. For the moment he saw it best to leave the scene and go ask Dante about it, so that they could come back to it together. Because if it was a portal, then it was way too risky for him to go check it out alone.

 **Back at Devil May Cry** , Nero found Dante sitting behind his desk, flipping through the magazine with a disgruntled expression. He didn't need to raise his head to know who came in.

"So... Lady gave you a job, huh?" Dante asked and pushed the magazine aside. "Did you complete one of these?"

"Eh, well", Nero muttered and rubbed the back of his neck. "I checked one out, the one about the disappearances..." He glanced at the man, who didn't really seem to be interested to hear the details of a job with no demons involved. "... But I didn't exactly complete it, there was this weird... Thing in the air, and I didn't want to get close to it because I thought it might be dangerous. It's something supernatural anyway." This got the others' attention and he urged the boy to continue. "I thought it might have been a portal, and I know you're more familiar with that subject, so I figured I'd take you to see it. ... But please don't laugh at me if it just turns out to be something completely normal. I'm really not sure."

Dante snorted, smiling. He got up from his chair and picked up Rebellion from the ground. "Yeah, well. Let's just go check it out. If it does turn out to be a portal, then... Yeah, let's just go check it", he spoke and ruffled the boys hair on their way out of the office.

 **Back at the gas station** Dante snorted at the sight of the waving air, somewhat curious about it. The boy was right about it being supernatural. A slight omnious aura was radiating from it. The boy most likely hadn't sensed it, being mostly human. "I think you may be right, you know", the man said, picking up a rock from the ground and throwing it at the waving air. Instead of flying through it, it disappeared half-way, leaving no traces behind. "I'm pretty sure it's a portal. But to where, nobody knows. Could be into the demon realm, or into another place on this planet." He couldn't help but frown a little. If it was a portal to the demon world, even Nero should've been able to sense it, as the aura surging from one of those is much more powerful. Also, demon world portals tend to spit out demons every so often, and it wouldn't be open for this long. Then again, if it was a portal to a place on this realm, it shouldn't emit an aura like that at all. The weakness of the aura, however, made him feel like there was nothing to fear in it. One way to find out for sure.

"So... What should we do about it? Close it?" Nero asked, looking up at the hunter next to him. Dante smiled, looking at him in the eye. It was... a kind of an unsettling smile. Like he was up to something.

The older man turned his gaze back to the portal. "I know you won't like this", he laughed. "But people have gone in there and we have no idea where it leads to, and we most likely can't close it on our side. I don't see anything to activate it around here."

Nero really didn't like where this was going. Last time they came across a portal it took them into some medieval-like realm and it took them god knows how many days to get out of there. Even if they did happen to reveal their true feelings for each other and fuck in that very realm, Nero still wasn't looking to do that kind of traveling ever again. "Oh please don't tell me..."

Dante smirked. "You wanna go first?"

"Fuck no!"

The elder hunter laughed. He picked the boy up from the ground without warning and ignoring his protests, made his way towards the portal carrying the squirming boy through it with him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

Nero woke up to a stinging headache and a blurred voice in his ears. He opened his eyes slightly, but closed them immediately as the bright light temporarily blinded him and only worsened his headache. The voice was getting a little bit clearer, and he realized that he was being shook from his shoulders. As he opened his eyes, this time shielding them from the light with his other hand, he saw a very worried-looking Dante hovering over him.

"Oh thank the gods", the man breathed out and leaned his head on Nero's chest shortly before getting up off him, pulling the boy up with him, still holding him firmly by his shoulders as if to make sure he doesn't fall over. "Are you alright? You were unconscious for a good while. Had me worried, you know."

Nero mumbled something, still struggling to open his eyes. It _was_ really bright out there, somehow. "Uh, yeah... I think so..." he muttered and looked up at the older man. "Didn't you pass out?"

Dante shook his head. "No, I was fine. I barely felt anything to be honest", he said and looked down at their feet with a somewhat saddened expression. "I got really worried when you weren't responding... Considering how these guys ended up..."

A questioning frown formed on the boys brows before he, too, looked down. He nearly jumped at the sight as he realized they were surrounded by corpses, old and new. Humans. Nero turned his gaze at Dante with a shocked expression. "And you thought it was a good idea to walk through that thing!?" he yelped, punching the man on the chest, none too gently.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry", the other said defensively, raising his hands. "It really didn't seem too dangerous to me. I wouldn't have taken you here in the first place if I had known what happened to the other people who came through. Or that... ..." Dante looked away, biting his lip a little. "... or that the portal would disappear once we get here..." he muttered, barely audibly.

"What!?" Nero nearly screamed, not believing his ears. "The fuck, Dante!? We're **stuck** here!?"

"I already said I'm sorry!"

"Well sorry isn't going to get us back home, is it!?"

"Please stop yelling, it's not making this situation any better!"

"Argh!" the boy threw his head back and closed his eyes shut, inhaling deeply. As he breathed out he lowered his head, but refused to open his eyes to look at all the bodies at their feet. "So... What do we do?" he asked, sounding weaker than he'd meant to.

Dante scratched the back of his head with a sigh. "I thought maybe we should walk around, explore this place a little. Maybe we'll find someone and they can help us out. Or at least tell us where we are."

"Yeah, what is this place anyway?" Nero asked, and lifted his head, opening his eyes to look around. It was... not what he had expected. Around them he saw frames of what used to be a house. He hadn't noticed it before but they were standing on piles of rubble. Ruins like this one were further around them as well. There was a road, too, but it was worn and looked almost ancient. It had large holes in it and cracks everywhere. Everything around them was just... destroyed. Dead. The few trees he could spot didn't have leaves on them. Hell, there wasn't even any grass. The air had a strange, greenish hue to it. "... What... Dante...?" he stuttered and looked up at the older man, who only shrugged, shaking his head.

"I found whiskey", he said, nodding towards a broken cabinet not too far from them, laying on its back. "I was searching for... I don't even know, something to help you, I wasn't thinking clearly. The taste was... odd. It was warm, sort of disgusting..."

Nero groaned, facepalming at his partner. "You find a random bottle of whiskey in a random cabinet in a place you know nothing about and your first instinct is to drink it?"

"Just tasted, I was curious..."

"God... Good think you're not human because your curiosity would definitely kill you", the boy muttered. "We should probably go... somewhere... Find some civilization maybe, if there even are any humans around in here. I kinda doubt it, based on our environment..." his eyes caught a round flying thing with antennae floating back and forth on the road, playing some kind of noise. "What the-?"

Dante glanced at it, too. "Yeah it doesn't do anything else. Seems harmless, didn't react to me in any way when I tried to approach it. As to if there are any people around, well... That thing is playing a radio channel. There's some dude talking on it." He noticed the boy's expression light up slightly, making him smile. "I'm sure there are people. Otherwise there wouldn't be a guy broadcasting stuff. And it would make no sense to broadcast if there were no audience."

Nero smiled with relief. "Great! There's gotta be people somewhere around here, so let's not stand around!" he said confidently and walked out of the rubble, doing his best trying to ignore the corpses on his way out.

The two agreed that they should follow the road uphill, as the downhill way looked less friendly... If you can say that about abandoned, destroyed scenery with no life anywhere to be seen. They passed more destroyed houses, some cars, too. There was no wind at all, which made the place just a bit more eerie than it already was. On their left they saw a bust stop, and what seemed to be a rocket adverting something. 'Red Rocket', read the sign next to it. It looked like something you'd find in a gas station, but there were no gas stations around to be seen. They didn't get any further than that before spotting movement. Only about 100 meters away there was a young woman, a teenager almost. Didn't look older than Nero, probably about the same age. She had long ginger hair on a loose bun and she was wearing a worn, light blue jumpsuit with the number 101 on it, and a strange metal thing on her left wrist. It looked like a some kind of machine.

"Hey, you!" Nero shouted at her, without thinking about it any further, walking towards her.

The girl reacted by quickly pulling out a pistol and aiming it directly at him, backing off a few steps. "What do you want!?" she asked, obviously trying to sound intimidating but it was clear that she was scared. Her hands were shaking slightly and he looked just as lost as Nero had when he first looked at the wasteland around them.

"Relax, relax it's okay, we won't hurt you", Dante said, stepping in front of Nero. "We were just wondering if you could help us out."

The ginger-haired teen lowered the pistol slightly, a troubled frown forming on her face. "I'm afraid not", she said, having relaxed a little. "I just got here, I don't... know anything about this place..."

"Just got here?" the hunter blinked. "Did you come through a portal?"

"Portal? What...?"

"A portal, like... Eh, never mind, where did you come from?"

The girl put away her pistol, still a little cautious about the two men. She pointed to the direction she had come from, up a hill. "From a vault. Over there. I... had to leave... ... Hey, you... You guys haven't by chance seen a bearded man, middle-aged, wearing a lab coat...?" she asked with a sad expression. "He's my dad. He left the vault and I need to find him."

Dante shook his head. "No, you're the first human we've seen in here. We just got here, too."

She arched her brow slightly. "Did you come through a portal, then, whatever it is?"

"Yeah... We can probably explain it to you later... Do you know a way to any kind of civilization?"

"How about 'Megaton'?" came the boy's voice from a bit further away. While the two talked, he had discovered a rusty metallic sign with the text _Megaton_ written on it with yellow paint and an arrow pointing right. "I think we should check it out. I can't think of anywhere else to go."

"Megaton", the girl repeated. "Megaton, Megaton, I've heard that somewhere..." She thought for a while before snapping her fingers. "I read about it on the Overseer's terminal! It's a town. ... I think. I read that people there are friendly to outsiders."

"Perfect", Dante smiled. "Then that's where we're going." He turned to look at the girl. "I think it's better if we stick together for now. Safer that way, since none of us knows a thing about this place."

"I agree. Besides, I wouldn't want to go alone anyway. I'm not used to fighting and I have a feeling there will be plenty out here... I can handle a gun well enough but... yeah, you know. You don't see that kind of action, living underground..."

Nero walked to the two, looking at the girl. "I'm Nero, by the way. This is Dante", he said, pointing at the other hunter with his right hand.

"I'm Samantha, nice to m- Oh my god, what's wrong with your arm?" she asked, noticing the Devil Bringer. "Is that a mutation? Does radiation do that to people?"

Nero blinked, slightly confused. This girl, Samantha, she was surprisingly chill after seeing his deformed, demonic right arm. "I guess you could call it a mutation, but I wouldn't really know about the radiation part, we just got here..."

"Oh! Right, right, I forgot..."

"Wait a sec", Dante interrupted them. "So there's radiation in here? ... Huh. What happened, a nuclear war or something? Because this place sure looks like it."

"Um, actually, yeah. That's exactly what happened, 200 years ago." Seeing the two hunters' confused expressions, she continued with a smile. "But I can probably explain that to you later. I think we should just go see this town, now. I hope we'll find some answers there. Whatever it is that you need help with, anyway."

* * *

In case anyone's interested, Samantha's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats are as follows:

Strength – 5

Perception – 5

Endurance – 5

Charisma – 5

Intelligence – 8

Agility – 7

Luck – 5

Her strongest skills are Medicine, Science and Small Guns. Secondary skills are Repair, Melee Weapons and Speech.

So basically, she's a daddy's girl who shot lots of radroaches with her BB-gun as a child.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

Dante, Nero and Samantha followed the bent metallic signs towards Megaton, and were greeted by a large structure, seemingly pulled together from large pieces of scrap metal and plane parts. It had functioning gates, that opened as they approached them. A robot, speaking in a monotonic way was apparently programmed to welcome people. _'Welcome to Megaton, the friendliest town around.'_ it kept saying. Holding a pause between every word made it sound slightly creepy. They walked past it, Dante noticing a sniper guarding on top of the main gates as they walked through them.

As soon as they walked in, they were approached by a man wearing a sheriff's duster and a hat, who immediately recognized Samantha's vault 101 jumpsuit and mentioned not seeing one of those in a long time. The man introduced himself as Lucas Simms, town mayor and Sheriff, and welcomed them into Megaton.

Before either Samantha or Dante had a chance to say anything, Nero snorted and blurted out: "Pffft. Nice hat, Calamity Jane", earning a sharp jab on his ribs from the girl next to him.

"So that's how it's going to be, huh? That's fine, that's fine", the sheriff spoke, sounding pissed. "Just as long as we understand each other. This here is my town, and these are my people. You as much as breathe wrong, and I'm going to fuckin' end ya", he threatened, glaring at the boy and the two others.

"Right, message received!" Samantha assured him with a careful smile.

"Glad we understand each other. Now, is there something I can help you with?" Mayor Simms asked, sounding much more relaxed now.

"Well I..." the girl started. "I'm looking for my father. Middle-aged guy probably wearing a lab-coat. Maybe you've seen him?" she asked, not sounding exactly hopeful.

"Nope, sorry", the man said, saying he had too much to do to be able to keep tabs on every visitor. He recommended she asked around town. Samantha nodded, thoughtfully.

Dante's eyes caught something in the distance. "Woah, is that a bomb?" he asked, getting a nod from the sheriff. "... Is it active?" Another nod.

"Don't you think someone should disarm that thing?" Samantha asked. "It's dangerous."

"I don't trust on any locals to tinker with it... Besides most people don't even realize it's still a threat. And hell, Cromwell and those crazies from the Church of Atom, they worship the damn thing", he kind of laughed. "Why, do you think you got the know-how to disarm it? For good?"

"Well, I could take a look at it. I know a thing or too about tinkering", Samantha said.

"All right, but _just_ look at it, first. Take it easy and all", the sheriff said. "If you do get the job done, there's 100 caps waiting for you." Nero frowned, thinking. _'Caps?'_

Dante jumped into the conversation. "Demolition expertise doesn't come cheap. I think 500 caps is more like it", he said with a smirk on his lips.

"Not an option, I'm afraid. We're not exactly rolling around in cash down here", Simms said, crossing his arms on his chest.

"Ah, damn", the older hunter muttered. "Worth a try I guess."

Samantha sighed, shaking her head. "Yeah, I'll take a look at it. Don't get your hopes up, though", she told him, as the three walked further into the town.

"Wait!" the sheriff shouted after them. "About your father. Now that I think of it, I might have seen him. Got this look in his eyes. You know, the kind a man gets when he's got a purpose. Spent some time in the saloon. Might want to talk to Moriarty, but watch yourself. That man is trouble." Samantha thanked him, more excited than before. The sheriff was about to turn back around but stopped to look at Dante. "Haven't I seen you before, though? It's not your first time here, is it?"

Dante quirked an eyebrow, slightly confused. "No, this is my first time here, actually. I don't remember ever seeing you before."

"Huh. Weird", the cowboy-hat man said. "In that case I think you've got a doppelganger or something. White hair and such. Anyways, my mistake. Carry on".

Nero and Samantha turned to look at Dante. "Just how many white haired people are there in this realm?" Nero questioned, looking at Samantha.

"I've seen none so far. I mean, not counting you, since you keep speaking about realms and portals so I take it you're not from around here..." Samantha said.

Dante snorted. "Well, anyway. Should we look at the bomb first or head to the saloon? Your call, I suppose."

The ginger-haired girl scratched her chin a little. "I want to take a look at the bomb. We can head to the saloon, then." The hunters nodded and followed the young woman to the atomic bomb, lying in a puddle of irradiated water and a priest of sort, preaching about it. They chose to ignore him. As they got to the bomb, Samantha quickly found a control panel of sort and looked through it. She scratched the back of her neck shaking her head with a sigh. "O...kay... this is a bit more complicated than what I'm used to..." she muttered. "There's nothing I can do about it now."

"Somehow I'm not surprised", Nero muttered under his breath. "Let's head to the saloon, now, shall we?"

Samantha nodded. "Yeah. ... How long will you two keep me company, by the way?"

"As long as it suits you, I guess. Until we find something better to do", the boy answered nonchalantly with a shrug.

They took a good look around the town as they walked to the saloon, following the painted metal signs on the way. The whole place seemed to be constructed of spare parts of... everything. Everything was recycled and reused material. The buildings looked frail, or delicate, but they were surprisingly sturdy. The ramps that they walked on to the upper levels of the town didn't budge under them as they went past. On their way they passed restrooms, men's and women's. Somehow, for reasons that were actually quite obvious, none of them was too eager to go test them out.

As they got inside the saloon, the first thing to catch their attention was a very... different looking man, punching a radio with his fist, apparently trying to fix it, and a woman calming him down, saying that the problem wasn't in the radio, but in the signal. Nero couldn't stop staring at the man, apparently named Gob. His skin was... peeling off. He looked like a walking dead, Jesus Christ...

Samantha walked up to the man, a bit hesitantly. The man greeted her, asking if she needed anything, calling her a smoothskin. "Uh... Let me think about it for a moment... my... good man", the girl nearly stuttered, slightly uncomfortable at the sight of the face that didn't have a nose...

"Wait... You're not going to hit me? Yell at me?" Gob said, sounding confused.

"I hadn't planned on it..."

"Well now, that's a surprise! I'm used to every asshole smoothskin in this town giving me trouble because I look like a corpse. ... Listen..." he started whispering. "Moriarty'd have my head if he caught me selling at a discount... but for you, I'll risk it", he said with a smile. "Now, anything you need?"

The girl felt a bit weird, repeating the same question to everyone. "I thought maybe you might have seen my father? A middle-aged guy, according to Lucas Simms he spent some time here."

"Oh yeah! I do remember a guy like that. Look, I usually keep my head down, I tend to get smacked around if I look customers in the eyes... But talk to Moriarty, he'll know more."

"Please, you gotta know something", the girl pleaded. "I really, really need to find him."

The man sighed. "I was like you once. I wandered into town looking for an escape from this stupid joke of a body I'm trapped in. Now look at me." He sighed again and glanced around. "Very well... Moriarty keeps a terminal on the back. If you can get onto that terminal, I bet you'll find some information about your dad." Samantha was just about to thank him before Gob started talking again and walked further from her. "Now, get away from me, smoothskin. If Moriarty even suspects I told you this, I'm a dead Ghoul."

Samantha watched Gob walk further, then turned around to face the devil hunters with a proud expression. "Now we just gotta hack into Moriarty's terminal", she said in a hushed voice. "And no worries, I'm an expert when it comes to computers", she spoke with much pride in her tone.

"That guy is waving at us", Nero muttered, nodding towards a strange man, sitting in the corned of the saloon, wearing sunglasses and a fedora. The three looked at each other before slowly approaching the man in a suit.

"My, my. Just when I had all but given up hope. My dear girl, I am very happy to make your acquaintance. I am Mister Burke. ... And you, well, you are not a resident of this putrescent cesspool. That makes you a rather valuable individual", the man spoke.

"It does?" Samantha questioned with a frown. She had a bad feeling about this man.

"I represent certain... interests who view this town, this "Megaton," as a blight on a burgeoning urban landscape..." he spoke slowly, sounding just... Evil. "If this settlement were to... go away. Why, who would really care? Certainly not you, or I."

"Wait a moment... You're going to destroy the town?"

"No, no, I'm just a recruiter. **You** get to have the real fun."

"No way. Not doing it", the girl said, quickly backing off from the man, followed by the two devil hunters. They just kinda stared at each other for a moment. "What. The hell... Is he out of his mind!?" Samantha hissed. "Should we go tell the sheriff about it?"

"I'll vouch for that..." Dante muttered, glancing at the fedora-man.

"Well, well. Just when I think I've seen everything this place has to offer, surprises like this appear out of nowhere, keeping me on my toes. I can't decide whether it's annoying or refreshing."

Dante froze at the sound of the voice, speaking behind him. _'No...'_ he thought. _'No, it's impossible...'_. He was afraid to turn around to look at the speaker. So naturally, he ended up doing so really quickly, like he was startled by something. Then he really was. The sheriff hadn't lied about a doppelganger. Dante gaped at the man in front of him, sitting on a chair just on the other side of the small corner room where mister Burke sat, his legs crossed, sipping on something. _'No...'_

"For a while, I almost thought you were ignoring me on purpose, you know."

"Is that..." Dante started, eyes wide open. His throat was suddenly dry, it felt like sandpaper as he tried to swallow. "Is that really you...?" he asked with a weak voice. "Vergil..?"

The man in front of him put down the bottle he was drinking from, looking back up at him. "How many other men do you know, who share identical facial features with you?" he smiled in a... somewhat malicious way. "Dante?"


	4. Chapter 4

SirenaLoreley: Ah, so glad to hear you like this story and decided to keep reading despite not being familiar with the Fallout series xD It's from the same company as Skyrim, totally worth a check if you're into open-world rpg's where you can build your character and play either good or evil. Especially in Fallout 3 the good or evil choices are very well made (I can only compare it to New Vegas because I haven't played 1 or 2 because they're older and I suck at older games hehe). But enough advertising, I think you might actually find this more enjoyable to read than those who have played the game from start to finish because I will follow the story line closely. Because I'm terrible at coming up with plots. :'D

(I was around 12 when I first played the game and needless to say, got a bit freaked out when a guy's head literally exploded when I shot him xD So I'll probably add that aspect in this fic, body parts exploding and such.)

* * *

Chapter 4.

Dante couldn't stop staring at the man sitting in front of him. Vergil stared right back at him, but not in surprise or confusion like Dante did. His expression was hollow, some of his earlier smirk still lingering on his lips. Dante looked at his brother's appearance better, having slightly recovered from the shock. He was wearing an outfit that wasn't his usual style, probably why Dante hadn't noticed him at first. It had a white t-shirt with a long, greyish, sleeveless leather coat over it, that reached just above his knees. The lower part of the outfit consisted of a pair of stitched and reinforced pants with chains around the ankles and a pair of army boots. The pants looked like they may have been sewn together by different pieces of fabric, armored padding here and there. He had a belt around his waist that had a couple of pouches on it. His gloves, reaching almost to his elbow, kinda looked like they were made of wool, with leather strips going around them and a fingerless leather glove on top. Dante frowned at the sight. It was a little weird to see him wearing such... ragged clothing. Or almost like an armor, really. Even weirder was when he realized that Vergil's hair was longer. It was still slicked back and fluffy on top, but the lower part of it was on a small ponytail, reaching his shoulder blades. And that it was dirty. Hell, the whole man was dirty. "How long have you been here?" Dante asked.

Vergil sighed, taking a sip from the bottle on his table. "Long enough. Weeks, maybe..."

"I hate to interrupt, but..." Samantha said quietly, tucking Dante's coat a little. "We should get to the sheriff, before this... Mister Burke tries to recruit someone else", she muttered and glanced towards the shady man in the corner.

Dante nodded quietly, then looked back at his brother. "You coming?"

Vergil raised an eyebrow. "Why should I?"

The hunter was silent for a while before shaking his head with a snort. "Yeah, nevermind... Let's go..." he muttered and followed the two others outside, leaving Vergil sitting in the corner.

Outside the saloon, Nero kept glancing at the older man walking behind him with a bothered expression on his face. He sighed. "What's the deal with that guy, huh? Vergil, was it?" he asked, getting Dante's attention. "Who is he anyway?"

The older hunter snorted with a sad smile. "He's my brother, kid..."

"Your brother?" Nero repeated with a confused frown. He could feel Yamato pulsing inside his Devil Bringer. "Wasn't he supposed to be dead? What the hell is he doing _here_?"

"I don't know... I never thought he would be alive, somewhere..." Dante mumbled. "But he said he's been here for something that felt like weeks, which means that before this he was probably... either still in the demon world, or somehow out in our world."

"Demon?" Samantha stopped walking and turned around to look at the two males with a confused frown. "... Yeah, could you explain to me exactly where you two are coming from and what's the deal with demons and portals?"

"... Would you like a long or a short version?"

"... Short one, please."

While making their way to Lucas Simms, the two continued to explain Samantha about the human world in their realm, and the demons residing in the demon realm next to theirs. They told her about portals that would sometimes open a link between the two allowing people and demons to pass through, keeping it as simple as possible with no extra details. The girl nodded from time to time, but didn't ask questions, figuring she could do that later if she wanted to know more. They explained how they got into this... post-nuclear-war-world through a portal that closed behind them as soon as they were through, and about the people who had died trying it. With a little hesitation, they decided to also tell her that they were part-demon themselves, since Samantha didn't have a negative view on demons, having not known any. The girl seemed a little doubtful at first, but quickly adjusted to the thought (since it was the only explanation so far for the boy's weird arm and the men's strange appearance and clothing), finding it exciting.

The three found the sheriff-mayor in a cowboy hat near the main gates, where they had first met him. He was partrolling the road up and down the hill that lead to the bomb. Samantha ran up to him. "Mister Simms, sir!" she called as she approached him.

"You again. Did you take a look at the bomb?" the man asked, turning to look at them.

"Uh, well yeah but I haven't done anything about it yet... But about that! There's a man named mister Burke in the saloon who's asking people to detonate the bomb", Samantha said.

"What!?" The sheriff yelped. "Are you serious? Oh, I never did like the look of him..." he muttered. "I'm going to assume that you turned his offer down."

"Yeah, I did... But... What if he asks someone else to explode the bomb? You should do something."

"Hmm. Good point. Come with me", he said, motioning the three to follow. "You're about to get an education in Wasteland justice."

Lucas Simms led the three back to the saloon, where mister Burke was still sitting, a smile rising on his lips as he saw the sheriff walk in. "You there, Burke! Explain your business in Megaton", he commanded, almost yelling. Samantha and the devil hunters followed the situation closely.

Mister Burke leaned back on his chair, not intimidated by the man in the slightest. "I'm sorry? Sheriff, what are you hollering about?."

"You know damn well what I'm talking about. The bomb! You're trying to blow it up! Have you lost your goddamned mind?" Simms roared.

"Sheriff", the man in suit gasped. "I'm afraid there's been a misunderstanding. Someone has surely been spreading rumors. I'll be sure to address the situation... personally", he spoke, playing innocent with a hint of threat at the end of the sentence.

"I'm placing you under arrest, Burke. At least until I figure out what the hell's going on around here", the sheriff spoke, now more calmly.

"And **I'm** afraid I won't be able to oblige your request, Sheriff. I have pressing matters to attend to. Now... step aside", mister Burke grunted, getting up from his chair.

"This isn't open to discussion! You're coming with me."

"Why do you knuckle draggers always insist on doing things the hard way?" Burke growled, sighing. "Very well, Sheriff. Lead the way", he said slowly.

As the Sheriff turned around to lead the man out of the saloon, mister Burke quickly grabbed the gun on his hip and pulled it from its holster. That's all he could do before his brains splattered on the wall behind him, accompanied by a loud gunshot from the other corner. It was over so quickly that people didn't even realize what had happened, at first.

Dante turned on his heels to look into the direction of the sound, seeing his brother, Vergil, holding a sawed-off shotgun in his hand. He turned to look back at the now dead Burke, then back at Vergil. "... You... You killed him."

"And I saved that man's life", Vergil said and smirked. "Welcome to the Wasteland, Dante. Out here, it's kill or be killed. Human or not."

"Huh..." Lucas snorted. "I must be getting slow in my old age... Thanks for saving my hide, stranger", he said to Vergil, who ignored him completely, before leaving the saloon.

Dante stared at his brother for a while longer, and the shotgun on the table beside him. "... I didn't think you'd ever pick up firearms, Verge."

The blue twin frowned at the nickname. "Not like I had much choice. Or are you saying you can still use your powers in here?"

"What do you mean? Sure I-" Dante stopped on his tracks, thinking, and his eyes widened in realization. A troubled frown formed on his forehead.

"Thought so..." Vergil snorted. He lifted his bottle again, grunting as he found it empty. "Ghoul!" he called, making Gob jump. "My drink is empty. Fix it", he hissed, baring his teeth at the last words.

"Y-yes, of course, sir", the ghoul stuttered, rushing to bring him a new drink. He glanced back as he was leaving, muttering under his breath. "... shitbird..."

The red twin frowned. "So, what, you're just going to drink yourself to dead here?"

"Ain't much more to do. In my current state I'm nothing but a mere human."

"Guys", Samantha chimed in carefully. "I hacked Moriarty's terminal", she whispered with a grin. "His password was 'lotsacaps', greedy bastard."

"What?" Nero quirked an eyebrow. "When'd you do that?"

"I saw the perfect window after mister Burke died. Nobody noticed me sneaking back", the girl explained, looking at the corpse. "So um... Thanks I guess...? Anyways, I know where my dad went. But I don't know where it is... A radio station. Galaxy News or something like that. ... Will you guys stick around here or...?"

Dante smiled. "Nah, can't have you running off on your own, can we? We'll come with you", he said. Samantha smiled widely at this, thanking them. "Now we just need to figure out which way to go, huh..."

Vergil looked at them. "Pardon me for asking, but what exactly is it that you are doing?"

"We're helping Sam here find her father who apparently took off without a word and disappeared."

"How noble of you..." the blue twin snorted. "I know where this radio station is".

"What, you do?" Samantha asked enthusiastically, leaning on the table next to Vergil, clearly invading the man's personal space.

"Yes", Vergil grunted. "I haven't been there but I've been close. I wasn't too fond of the creatures near that area, and they weren't too fond of me. Our fast healing and natural resistance to damage are off, too. I had to learn the hard way." He looked at Dante and sighed. "I know that face... I know you're going to ask it, but there's nothing you could possibly say or do for me that would make me want to _'join you'_."

"Oh?" Dante hummed. "Not even, say, Yamato?" Nero could feel his arm pulsing again. It was like the sword _wanted_ to come out.

Vergil turned to look at his brother in the eye, slowly. "You're bluffing."

"Or am I?" the red twin raised his eyebrows with a smirk. "What do you say we make a deal... I know you don't really want to waste your time in this dump but you've just got no reason to leave... You come with us, we'll give you your sword back."

The other just stared at him dead in the eye for a minute, before sighing heavily, hanging his head low. "You drive a hard bargain, brother..." he muttered before looking back up at him. "Deal... I'll walk you to this radio station tomorrow..."

Dante smiled. "There we go. Now we better get some sleep, it's getting a bit late already... ... How much is a room in here?"

"150 caps."

"... Steep."

"Wait", Nero mumbled. "Do these people actually use _bottle_ _caps_ as currency?" he asked, getting a nod from Vergil as an answer. "... Where the hell are we supposed to get 150 bottle caps?"

Samantha thought for a moment. "Lucas Simms said he'd give me 100 if I disarmed the bomb..." She went through her pockets and pulled out a pack of some sort of pills. "Hah, I knew I took some Mentats from the vault!" she cheered.

"What are Mentats?"

"A drug", Vergil replied bluntly, before Samantha could answer Nero.

"They're not a drug!" she yelped. "... I mean yeah, sure you can get addicted to them but they're... Okay they're a kind of a drug... They make your head work faster, I think I could disarm the bomb using these for extra aid."

"Well..." Nero muttered. "Let's go find out, I guess..."

The three walked down to the crater where the bomb lay in. It was already getting dark outside. As they approached the bomb, Samantha took out the Mentats package, eating one of the pills in it. She then proceeded to find the control panel on the side of the massive nuke...

Nero watched her, nervous. Not that he didn't trust her abilities... although to be honest, he didn't... and now that she was actually fiddling with it and not just looking, it was a whole different situation. If that thing went off, they would all just... die. In a massive nuclear explosion that would wipe out the entire town with it. He took a deep breath and reached out for Dante, holding his hands around the man's arm and leaning his head on his shoulder.

Dante chuckled, leaning his head slightly on top of the younger one's. "Are you scared?" he spoke into his hair.

"Aren't you? It's a fucking nuke", Nero grumbled. "If we die now... I just... wanted to say that..." he sighed. "... That your brother is a fucking asshole."

The older man laughed. "What a dramatic build-up... And yeah, I know. He was ruthless before, I think this place has gotten into him to add in it", he spoke. "But hey, kid..." Dante kissed Nero's head. "I love you."

Nero blushed, hiding it against the other's arm. "...love you too..." he muttered.

"I am done!" Samantha cheered happily and stepped away from the bomb and the puddle of irradiated water it sat in. "It's now disarmed. It won't go off now", she said, turning around to face the two others who were no longer entwined.

"Well that's a relief..." the boy sighed. "Now to find the sheriff, right?"

By midnight they had collected all the necessary funds to get not only one, but two rooms, four being the total number of rooms in Moriarty's saloon. Vergil was paying the rent of one, and there were no other 'wastelanders', as the locals called them, in Megaton at the moment who needed to stay there. Samantha had gotten rest of the caps by selling almost all the things she'd picked up from the vault on her way out, which was a surprisingly large amount of stuff... However, it turned out that they didn't need to rent more than one room for the two devil hunters. The town sheriff was so grateful for disarming the bomb, that she gave Samantha the key and ownership for a house in the town, so she spent her night there, while Dante and Nero slept at the saloon.

* * *

Ah, can't stop now... I want to play the game further and write this x'D Ah well, it's Sunday tomorrow, should be fine...


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

Samantha and the devil hunters had agreed to meet outside the saloon in the morning. It was around 9 in the morning when they did, getting the time from Samantha's Pip-Boy; the thing on her wrist. Apparently it was a device that kept an eye on her physical health, stored maps and locations, notes, even played radio. A handy thing to have.

"And you're sure you don't want to get armor?" Vergil questioned, looking at the two other part-demons. "Like I said, natural resistance and healing is gone. If someone shoots you in the head or any other vital parts it's over. Immediately."

"I'm not wearing a helmet", Nero grunted. "You're not wearing one."

"I've learned to watch my back. And honestly, I don't value my life as much as you might", the blue twin spoke, bitterly. "If you are sure, then let's head out. You can get armor and other equipment later if you want to, doing as I did. Take it off a dead person."

Dante sighed, shaking his head. "Yeah, yeah let's do that if we need to..." he mumbled. He turned his eyes to the girl. "Hey, where'd you get armor on that jumpsuit?"

Samantha smiled. "Oh this is a different jumpsuit. That Moira woman gave this to me in return for information about how it's like to live in a vault. This was apparently meant to go for another ex-vault-resident who was killed in the wasteland before getting it... So, yeah, it's mine now", she spoke and turned around, showing her new outfit to her male company. It still didn't have much armor, at least not on top of the blue jumpsuit; both shoulders and knees were padded and some other places. But it was still a lot better than just bare cloth like she had worn earlier.

"Let's get going, then..." Vergil muttered, leading the three out of the town. Dante looked at his brother's gear. In addition to his shotgun, he also had a rifle on his back now, and a some kind of a sword on his hip. A weapon for each situation, he thought. Vergil turned around to look at him. "Now... Were, or were you not bluffing when you told me you'd give me my sword back?" he asked, glaring at his brother. Dante nodded at Nero, who reluctantly summoned Yamato on his right hand, noticing that it was more difficult than usually. The place they were in was limiting his abilities, too... Vergil took the sword, inspecting it quickly before confirming to himself that it was indeed the same Yamato he had wielded years ago. He pulled the sword currently on his hip off, throwing it on the ground like it was garbage, replacing it with the katana. "Good... This way", he spoke, motioning the three to follow his lead.

"Wait", Samantha said, stopping them. She walked to a man sitting on the ground in ragged clothes. Kneeling down, she pulled a bottle of water and handed it over to him. The man thanked her from the bottom of his heart, saying she had saved his life. Samantha smiled at him before returning to the three, noticing Vergil glaring at her. "... What?"

"Why would you give it to him?" Vergil asked. "Purified water, no less... That's valuable and hard to come by in the wasteland."

The girl shrugged. "I figured he needed it more than I do..."

"Bah", the blue twin scoffed. "That man will die within a week, being generous only prolongs the process by a day or less. He is a waste of time", he spoke and started walking again, giving the rest of the group no option but to follow him. According to Samantha's Pip-Boy, they were heading east. It wasn't long before they got to a river. "Now be careful. The things on the other side are less than friendly", he muttered as he walked into the water at a slightly more shallow point.

As Nero stepped in after him he frowned, feeling a bit off as he walked deeper. "... Umm... This water feels... weird, somehow..."

Vergil turned to glance at him. "Oh, that's just because it's irradiated."

"... What?"

"Better get used to it, boy, it's everywhere. You can't avoid it. When the poisoning becomes too serious go see a doctor or take some drugs. No big deal", the blue twin spoke calmly, like radiation poisoning was the most normal thing in the world. "Who are you, anyway? Dante's son?"

"No", Dante chimed in. "No, he's... Slightly too old to be my son. Thank the god..."

"Ah", was the reply from the other. He really didn't care enough to question it further.

As they got to the other side, Samantha looked at her Pip-Boy. "Farragut West Metro Station", she read the screen. "A new location for the map."

"Yes, and that's where we're going", Vergil said.

"... Where exactly?" Nero asked, not sure what to think as he saw Dante's brother walk to the other side of an entrance to the metro tunnel and walk downwards towards the gates. "... Vergil?"

The blue twin looked at the three. "Are you coming or not? This is the only way to get where you're going. The buildings have crumbled to form a wall around it so there's no way around. We need to go under."

"... Alright, then..." Nero mumbled, following him with Dante and Samantha. "Is it at least lit up?"

"Some points are. It's generally very dark. And filled with ghouls, not like the barista. Feral ones. So, shoot anything that moves."

"... Got it." And in they went. Into a dark hole in the ground.

Inside, Vergil stopped and appeared to be thinking. He turned to the right, leading the three to a smaller room that was fairly well lit. "Girl... Samantha, was it. You're good with computers", he spoke. "There's a protectron robot inside that capsule. If you can, activate it through that terminal. It should then start patrolling around, killing hostile targets. Will help keep this place clean of the vermin."

Samantha looked over at the terminal. "I'll give it a try", she muttered, heading over to the computer. It took some time for her to hack it, but it seemed like a simple enough job. Dante and Nero noted how the computers in this place looked like they were from the 80's. Lots of things did, actually. The girl bit her lip a little, typing in the password and activating the robot. "Done", she said, and only a second later the robot awoke, stepping out of its capsule.

 _"Metro security protocol initializing"_ , it spoke and started to walk around a little. _"Station security grid, offline. Metro central, not responding. Threat level omega, lethal force authorized"_ , it said and walked to Vergil. _"Tickets, please."_

Vergil looked around himself a little, taking an old metro ticket off the counter and handing it over to the robot.

 _"Scanning for valid ticket. ... Scan complete. Please proceed."_

"You heard the robot, let's go", the man said.

Just outside the room, two giant, naked creatures ran at them, attacking. They were some kind of rodents... Samantha, in panic, pulled out her 10mm pistol and shot them dead, only to stare at them afterwards with a creeped out expression. "... Are those mole rats!?" she yelped. "They're huge!"

Vergil sighed. "Many things are. Ants are the size of dogs, cockroaches – or radroaches, as you call them – are the size of large dining plates. I was surprised to find that dogs are still the same size, and barely mutated at all... In any case, let's continue. I doubt any of us wants to spend more time in this hole than we have to."

On their way through, they shot a few more mole rats, and came across a group of five feral ghouls, which Dante took out easily with Ebony and Ivory, that were now reduced to regular Colt M1911 pistols, thanks to Dante's inability to tap into his demonic powers. Fortunately, his physical skills, such as perfect hand-eye coordination was still intact, allowing dual-wielding. The text on Samantha's Pip-Boy turned from Farragut Station to Tenleytown/Friendship Station as they passed through a door, which she hoped meant they were getting closer to their destination.

"Oh no..." Vergil muttered, motioning the people following him to stop. "I had hoped that they wouldn't be here yet... Just... Let me handle this..." he spoke quietly and slowly walked a little bit further from the rest. He took the rifle off his back and put one knee down, aiming at something in front of him. After taking the shot he immediately switched to another target, shooting it also. The first target let out a noticeably louder thump when it died and fell to the ground. "Alright, come."

Nero and the rest went to him, to continue walking towards wherever they were going next, and the boy spotted a huge, human-like corpse laying on the ground... With no head, as it had apparently blown off when Vergil had shot it. It's skin was greenish, almost yellow and it was really bulky... Almost like the Hulk but with armor and a massive hammer in its hands. "... What the fuck is that?!"

"A Super Mutant..." Vergil sighed. "The creatures that I wasn't too fond of when I wandered near the radio station, the ones I mentioned yesterday... They're aggressive and know how to handle all kinds of weapons. Watch out for missile launchers and miniguns, there are bound to be some..." He turned to look at the people behind him. "Are you sure you want to go on?"

Samantha nodded, determined to continue the search for his father. "I have to."

"Well, we can't just leave her on her own, you know", Dante smiled, shrugging.

Vergil frowned. "You still fail to realize that there is an actual danger involved this time. You will _not_ be okay if you get shot. You will _not_ recover in seconds... You _will_ die, just like any human."

"I'm still not worried... Even demons can't usually get close enough to hurt me, why should it be different here? Sure, I don't have any supernatural powers... But neither do they", Dante spoke, pointing at the dead Super Mutant. "We'll be fine, trust me."

"Don't you think I had similar thoughts when I first got here?" Vergil now nearly growled. "I've got scars to prove you how stupid that kind of a view is. Some of my injuries are still not healed", he grunted.

"... Wait, you're hurt?"

"What else does 'not healed' mean, other than 'hurt'?"

"No, I mean... Are you in pain?"

"Well, I'm walking, aren't I?" Vergil growled with a pissed off frown. "Let's go. We're about to reach the surface. More Super Mutants waiting to be killed there."

"Chevy Chase North..." Samantha read the name of the location on her Pip-Boy.

As they got out, they walked around the destroyed city are they had gotten into, Vergil glancing around every corner, cautiously. He hadn't seathed his rifle.

"Are you scared, Verge?" Dante asked with a doubtful expression.

"There's a difference between fear and caution, Dante..." the other muttered. "I don't wish to die, yet."

Not long before two Super Mutants seemed to appear out of nowhere and open fire at them with rifles. Luckily they were quite bad with them and couldn't manage to hit them before they had ducked behind some rubble. Vergil was quick to open fire at them, still staying behind the cover. These ones didn't go down as easily as the one in the metro tunnel.

"Ah damn", Dante muttered as he joined his brother, firing one of the twin guns at the mutants, as the situation made it difficult to use both. Nero made the decision to stay safely behind the pile of concrete, as did Samantha. The boy only had one handgun that was probably of no use against these kind of creatures, and Red Queen was useless when he couldn't get close to the enemies. Samantha only had her 10mm pistol and a baseball bat.

However, the twins noticed that someone else was firing at the mutants, too. With something that looked like lasers. With so many people shooting at the same targets, the mutants were brought down quickly, and people in heavy, large armors appeared from within the ruins, carrying energy weapons, guns that shoot lasers and plasma.

Samantha took the lead and walked to them with the rest of the group, after seeing that the armored humans didn't aim their guns at them after spotting them. As she approached a woman, wearing no helmet, she started talking.

"Look, I don't know who you are, but you don't belong here", the woman spoke in an annoyed tone, and before anyone had the chance to say anything, she continued: "The Super Mutants have overrun our brothers at the Galaxy News Radio building, and we're headed there to back them up. You can tag along if you wish, but keep your head down and try not to do anything... stupid."

The girl in vault jumpsuit scratched the back of her head. "Thanks for the assist... I didn't know this place was so dangerous..."

"You've been living under a rock? This is D.C. This entire area is crawling with Super Mutants. Now, if you'll excuse me..." the woman spoke.

"Wait, you mentioned Galaxy News Radio?"

"There aren't a lot of safe places in the ruins right now, but the Galaxy News Radio building is sort of our port in the storm. Unfortunately, the building's been hit pretty hard lately. We're their backup. So if there are no more questions, we really need to move out", the woman said in a hurried tone.

"Alright, let's go. We'll come too", Samantha spoke, to which the woman nodded, allowing them to follow.

"Brotherhood of Steel", Vergil grumbled. "Marvelous..."

Samantha looked down on the ground, noticing one of the rifles left behind by the dead Super Mutants. She picked it up, along with some ammo. "Hey, is this any good?" she asked, turning to Vergil.

"Same as I have", he answered. "A hunting rifle. Does decent damage. It's not in bad condition either. I say keep it." The girl looked proud of her discovery.

With the help from the armored group, apparently called the Brotherhood of Steel, they made their way safely through mutant infested ruins to the Radio Station, killing every thing on their way. Just as everything seemed to be okay, though, all the mutants killed, there was a large explosion on the east side of the small courtyard in front of the building. A huge, much much bigger Super Mutant walked into the courtyard. It was _massive_.

"Vergil!" Nero shouted, having his hearing slightly off after the explosion. "What is that!?"

"I... I don't know" the blue twin spoke, eyes wide open. "It's trouble."

"Everyone! Take cover!" the blond woman in the heavy armor screamed, everyone obliged. Including the part-demons. The whole Brotherhood that was outside the building opened fire at the large creature, who seemed unfazed by it. Vergil, Samantha, Dante and even Nero were shooting at it, trying to hit all the most vulnerable places; head, and gut, but to no avail. The mutant barely noticed them, continuing with its assault, killing off the Brothers one by one with its massive sledgehammer.

"Whatever you do, stay behind cover", Vergil hissed. "It's too dangerous to approach, and-" he stopped quickly, staring into the courtyard.

"... Vergil?" Dante questioned.

Vergil ignored him, staring at a point in the courtyard, then at the creature. Then at the courtyard and so on. One specific spot. He cursed quietly as he jumped over the cover, running straight towards the open area.

"Vergil, what- What the fuck!?" Dante shouted after him. "Get back here! You just said that we shouldn't leave cover!"

Vergil, ignoring his brother again, ran up to a dead member of the Brotherhood, pulling her weapon off her body along with its ammo. He was lucky to have seen correctly. He loaded the weapon just as the giant Super Mutant turned to look into his direction, spotting him immediately. He aimed the massive launcher towards the mutant, whom he now realized to be way too close for a safe distance, and coming closer every passing second. He cursed in his mind as he pulled the trigger, launching a miniature nuke at the mutant, causing the second explosion in the area. The blast sent him flying backwards and painfully land on his back among the rubble. But the creature was dead, at least.

Dante immediately ran at his brother falling on his knees next to him. "Vergil? Verg you okay?" he asked hurriedly. He sighed in relief as the blue twin opened his eyes to stare at him with an annoyed expression. "That was some stunt you pulled..." Dante muttered. "Never do that again."

"Kill or be killed", Vergil smirked. His smile soon faded as he thought of putting the nuke launcher off his hands. His left arm didn't feel quite right... At first he thought it was simply dislocated but no, it was broken. Same with his left shin. The bones were fractured, if not snapped in two completely. He couldn't help but grimace as the pain started to seep into his mind. With the loss of demonic abilities came the loss of pain resistance. It was nearly the same as a human's now.

Dante frowned, concerned again. "Are you alright?" he asked, attempting to lift the weapon off his hands but stopped quickly as the other yelped in pain when he moved it.

"D-don't t-touch it", Vergil hissed through clenched teeth.

The red twin looked at his brother closer, noticing a growing redness in the other's left forearm. A bruise was already beginning to form on it as well. Samantha sat next to him.

"Oh I know this", she said. "My dad's a doctor, he taught me a lot... His arm is broken. Now if you'll excuse me..." she spoke and not waiting for a permission from Vergil, started poking around on his body, looking for other injuries.

"N-nno need..." Vergil coughed. "Leg... L-left one..."

"Here?" Samantha asked, laying her hand _directly_ on the broken part, causing the man to hold back a scream, throwing his head back and squirming on the ground a bit. "Sorry, sorry!" she apologized, pulling her hand off quickly. "I've got some Stimpaks, you'll be okay", she said reassuringly, going through the contents of the pockets and pouches on her suit. She pulled out two large syringes, filled with some kind of liquid. The needles looked uncomfortably thick... "Here you go", she spoke, sticking one of the Syringe's into Vergil's arm, slightly below the part where the bruise was forming, emptying its contents inside his vein.

"... What's that thing do?" Dante asked.

"Oh this?" the girl asked as she pulled the thing out. "It's called a Stimpak, as you probably heard me say earlier. A very effective medicine. It can heal broken bones into usable condition in... let's say... 10 minutes, if injected completely near them. Heals all kinds of physical injuries", she said as she moved to inject the other syringe into the blue twin's leg. "He's going to need to be carried inside, though. Unless you want to wait here for the 10 minutes to pass."

"I can walk", Vergil wheezed on the ground, sounding quite pathetic to be honest.

"No, you can't..." Samantha shook her head with a apologetic smile.


	6. Chapter 6

As I am playing while writing, I pretty much just write what happens in the game. Of course with some adjustments, otherwise I couldn't make it work storywise, and adding any Dante/Nero or Vergil would be impossible...

But anyways, I did go fetch a goddamn nuke launcher and blow a Super Mutant Behemoth to hell with it, also crippling my characters left arm and leg in the process because I was standing too close to the explosion. Whoopsie. :D Sorry that I wrote you in that situation Vergil.

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Chapter 6.

Inside the radio building, Dante carried his brother onto a bed on the second floor, just right from the main entrance, while Samantha and Nero went to find the man broadcasting the channel, apparently called Three Dog. Vergil whimpered as he was laid down, his broken limbs obviously hurting from being moved around. Dante stepped a bit further from the bed after putting him down, sitting on the floor next to it, just looking at him. He smirked. "Honestly... Going that far to save a bunch of humans... Never thought I'd see you pull that off."

Vergil grunted, eyes closed. He wasn't in so much pain anymore, thanks to the Stimpaks injected into his injuries moments ago. They were starting to slowly work their magic. Now it only hurt if he moved. "The first thing I had in mind wasn't saving those power armored freaks... It was a selfish act, because nobody else was going to do it.

"Pff, yeah keep telling yourself that", Dante chuckled quietly. "I think you've gone soft over the years."

"Are you implying that I don't want to kill humans? Remember what happened to mister Burke?"

"Well... Well yeah, but he _was_ going to shoot the sheriff. You saved his life by killing that asshole. All I'm saying is that you're actually bothering to step in and do something. Not just stand by and watch while people get killed. You're more... considerate."

The blue twin snorted. "I'll admit, I do interfere in people's actions more than I used to. But I'm in no position to do nothing, anymore. There can be serious consequences, now that I'm reduced to one of them..." he spoke. "But make no mistake, I will kill anyone if it benefits me. That part of me hasn't changed one bit."

Dante nodded, snorting. "I guess... ... How did you get here, by the way?"

"Hm?" Vergil turned his head to look at his little brother. He noticed Samantha and Nero return and stop to listen at the door frame, but chose not to say anything about it to Dante.

"I mean... Where were you at first, before coming to this world? ... And how did you come here?"

The older twin was quiet for a while, staring at the roof. He sighed before starting to speak again. "I was in the demon realm. I came through a portal, probably like you and that boy did. Or rather, I was forced in. My... _master_ ", he spoke with so much venom in his tone he could've made babies cry, "has a sick sense of humor... Pushing me through, stripping me from my abilities..." he muttered the last part under his breath.

"Your master?" Dante repeated, frowning. "... You're still serving under Mundus?"

"Against my will, mind you", Vergil grunted. "It's not service. It's slavery, torture... He has no influence over me here, in this place, so I can't imagine other reason for him to place me in this realm than to tease me." He looked at Dante, briefly, before turning his gaze back at the roof in front of him. "He... told me, before making me go through, that he would bring you here, too. I thought he was lying."

"... I see..." Dante turned to look behind him, as he saw Vergil nod towards the door. He spotted the teens standing there and smiled. "Oh, hi. Didn't notice you... So... What's the deal with this Three Dog guy? He tell you where your dad went?"

"No..." Samantha muttered. "He will, if we find a replacement for a dish some Super Mutants shot down from its place and broke it, making the radio signal weak."

"Oh how great..." Vergil muttered. "People in this place never give out information for free, there's always a catch."

"So, Vergil..." Nero said. "Are you coming with us?"

"Why? Didn't we only agree that I would walk you here in exchange for my sword? I got what I wanted", the man grunted.

"Aw come on", Dante smirked. "You know you want to~ Besides you know this place better than any of us. Even if you've only been here for a couple of weeks. Nero and I got here the day before yesterday and Samantha's been living underground her whole life."

"Also do you happen to know where we could find the Museum of Technology? Because that's where we're supposed to be going", Nero asked.

Vergil sighed heavily, rubbing his brows with his healthy hand. "Museum of Technology... ... Somewhere in the D.C. I don't know... This is the furthest I've ever been into this region, thanks to the Super Mutants walking around everywhere. Mostly I've traveled south-west of here, but I've heard people talk about this area and what's around here. Didn't this radio man give you any directions at all?"

Samantha looked through her Pip-Boy a little. "South of here. He marked the area on my map but it doesn't show the exact location. It is within the D.C. ... So are you coming with us? I like your style", she spoke, sounding quite excited. "Like, you just picked up a fricking nuke launcher and BOOM hahah! Can we take it with us?"

"I think it's best we leave it with the Brotherhood", Dante spoke, making the girl's smile fade a little. "It's a bit too dangerous to handle. And as you see it only works with certain distances", he said, nodding towards Vergil.

Samantha nodded, looking disappointed. She looked at the blue twin. "How are you arm and leg coming together?"

Vergil lifted his left arm carefully to look at it. "Mh, they're together alright... But I probably shouldn't put weight on them, yet."

"True, you shouldn't. Well, Three Dog said we can spend the night here. It's already late, like 9 pm. It's better we leave in the morning so we won't have to travel in moonlight."

"Agreed", Nero muttered, climbing onto one of the beds nearby.

 **In the morning** , it was around 9 am when they left the building through a back door and arrived to an area called Dupont Circle. From there they ventured into a collapsed car tunnel, as the compass on Samantha's Pip-Boy advised them to, and it took them to Dupont Circle Station, a metro tunnel entrance. There was another metro protectron robot, which they activated to patrol the area and keep it slightly safer for later use. Deeper in they came across a single woman, her back towards them and she didn't seem to have noticed them. Vergil took out the shotgun on his hip and shot her without any further thought, leaving the rest of the people in his company staring at him with their mouths open.

"What is it now?" the blue twin asked in a bored tone. "It was nothing but a lowly raider, I know her kind. There's bound to be more around. Humans or not you must shoot on sight."

"But..." Dante started, but went quiet. "... Alright..."

As they ventured on they came across more raiders, like Vergil had predicted. These ones were only carrying melee weapons, allowing close-up combat, which seemed to cheer the blue twin up noticeably. He ran ahead and pulled Yamato from its sheath, and didn't waste more than one swing on each of the human attackers to bring them down, alone in a four against one fight. He still got his agility and grace, even though no more demonic. Watching him fight would have been almost beautiful, if not for all the blood and guts spilling on the ground around him. After this encounter they went through a door into another area, which Samantha's Pip-Boy called Metro Central. In there they found several exits and tunnels, and following the correct one was challenging, as the tunnels also went on several different floors. They figured it out soon enough, and found their way to the surface to a place called The Mall.

During their time in the tunnels, fighting off ghouls and raiders, Vergil and Samantha ran out of ammo (since they used the same type of rifle) and had to switch into assault rifles they found on the rangers. They weren't nearly as accurate, and being automatic used up a lot of ammo in a short time, but they would have to do until they could resupply. The whole area, The Mall, was one big empty space with little hiding places, and the whole area was swarming with mutants. But fortunately they had surfaced only about 10 meters from the museum doors, and could sneak in unnoticed by the mutants outside.

Inside, they were going through a hallway when it suddenly changed into what appeared to be an entrance to a tunnel somewhere, with a huge, round metal door open and inviting.

"Wait, this is... A vault?" Samantha gasped as they walked further. A voice came from the speakers around them, introducing the area as a Vault-Tec vault, new technology for living underground. "Woah..." she mumbled.

Nero looked around the worn out bloodstained walls. "Sheesh, you live in one of these?"

"Well this is not an actual vault, just an exhibition... And mine's much cleaner! With 0 radiation."

They walked through the short exhibition advertising life in a vault, and went to the west wing of the building. There they found some more Super Mutants carrying hunting rifles with them. They took their ammo and quickly located the dish they were looking for. Now all that was left was to find the Washington Monument, take the elevator on top of it and replace the dish and return to Three Dog to ask about Samantha's father.

It was already dark when they left the museum, and the outside was still swarming with Super Mutants. The four saw it best to follow the walls as closely as possible and move quietly, to avoid having to fight them. The monument was not too far away, they could see a tower, that to Nero seemed extremely phallic, rising towards the skies. And against all odds, they did make it to it without having to fight any of the Super Mutants. On top of the tower Samantha took her time installing the dish (being the science nerd of the group), and they decided to spend the night on the top floor, as it appeared to be the safest place in the area. On the next day they would travel back to Three Dog.

"Hey, all right! The hero of the Wasteland returns!" the dark skinned man in sunglasses cheered as the four approached him.

"Thanks, Three Dog. I was just glad to help with the Good Fight", Samantha said. Nero assured the twins that knowing what the _'Good Fight'_ was wasn't important.

"Hey, you're the one who deserves all the thanks! You struck a major blow against tyranny! Now GNR can be heard clear across the Capital Wasteland again. That'll give Eden and those Muties something to think about. But before I get back to my calling, I bet you wanna hear about your dad."

"Oh yes, please!" Samantha gasped, leaning forwards. "Tell me everything you know."

"Alright then. When your dad passed through here, he and I talked for a good long time. He's a real stand-up kind of guy. He mentioned some scientific mumbo-jumbo which didn't make sense to me and mentioned something called 'Project Purity'. He also said something about going to visit a Doctor Li in Rivet City. Then, he left in a hurry."

"... That's it?" Nero asked, frowning. "That's all you know?"

"Yup, that's all I know", Three Dog answered.

"... So, where's Rivet City?"

The man with glasses raised his eyebrows. "You've never heard of Rivet City? Wow. Just... Wow", he spoke in amazement. "Well, a whole bunch of eggheads got together and turned a beached aircraft carrier into a town. That's Rivet City. Easiest way to get there is to follow the river south of here. Can't miss it."

"Great", Samantha smiled. "Then Rivet City is where I'm headed. Bye, then, thanks for your help."

"Goodbye, pal. Keep us tuned while you're out there. And say hi to your dad for me", the radio host said and returned to his working room.

The ginger-haired girl turned to face her white haired company. "It's still early, clock's not even 12. I think we best leave immediately."

"You still coming, Verge?" Dante asked, looking at his twin who sighed.

"I have a feeling you'll get yourself killed if I don't..." he grumbled. "So, yes, I will tag along. Not like I have anything better to do."


	7. Chapter 7

I'm afraid of how long this will end up becoming xD it takes forever to write one single trip on foot from point A to point B, I don't even know why I bother... although, it's during travels that I actually have a chance to do character development and interaction that's not in-game, so... I guess that's fine :D

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Chapter 7.

"Whoo, I'm so glad to be out of that place!" Samantha said, stretching her arms in the air as the four walked out of the metro tunnels and D.C. area. "Who would have thought that I would miss the open wasteland..."

"I couldn't agree more..." Nero muttered, shuddering. "We're clear of Super Mutants now, right? They're just in that area, aren't they?"

Vergil sighed. "You wish... They're not even the strongest creatures there are. You should be glad that the most dangerous beings are up North from here. Deathclaws, that is. The name should say enough."

The boy let out an uncomfortable hum and turned to look at Samantha. "Does your Pip-Boy say which way to go?"

The girl looked down at the thing on her wrist, twiddling the buttons on it. "Hmmmmmm yeah. Just south-east of here. We can just follow the side of the river, like Three-Dog said."

All of the four people turned to look into the said direction. From where they were standing it seemed like an almost intact road led directly to where they were going, the river sitting still on its right side.

Nero held his stomach with a grimace, to suppress the loud growl it made. "Could we eat something first? I'm starving..."

Dante bit the inside of his lip. "Yeah, now that you mention it, me too."

"Well none of us has eaten yet, right?" the ginger girl spoke, reaching down to her bag. "... Um..."

Vergil frowned. "Oh come on..."

"... Yeah, I only have some potato crisps and a packet of mac and cheese... ... Got plenty of water, though..."

The blue twin raised his hand over his forehead, face-palming at the girl with a sigh. "Great", he grunted. "We've got enough to feed two people. It didn't occur to you that maybe you should pick up more while we were walking around the metro tunnels with _food dispensers_ _**everywhere**_?!"

"I'm sorry, okay!?" Samantha yelped, quickly stepping to hide behind Dante. "I'm not used to having to search food! In the vault we-"

"Yes, the vault, the goddamn vault!" Vergil growled. "Why did you even leave that perfect little paradise you people have down there, in that god forsaken hole in the ground, huh? You're not suited for a life outside, none of you spoiled little shits are..."

"Hey!" Samantha snapped, stepping out of hiding. "I didn't want to leave, but my dad-"

"Your dad left and you decided to follow, I get it! Your father was an idiot to do so, and he's probably already dead, lying face down in a pool of his own blood. And it seems that the apple didn't fall far from the tree, because you're only repeating his idiocy."

"People were fucking attacking me!" the girl screamed. "The Overseer is a fucking Nazi and he says no one is allowed to leave and when dad did he just went insane! His men killed my dad's friend and they were coming for me next! What the **fuck** was I supposed to do!?" Tears were starting to form on her eyes, threatening to fall on her cheeks.

"Guys, stop it!" Dante interrupted, stepping between the two. "None of this is helping so both of you just stand down. We'll look for food as we're going, okay?"

Vergil grunted, turning his back on Samantha. "You're lucky that my brother has you under his wing. I don't have patience for this kind of bullshit", he muttered as he started walking forwards, the others following him quietly.

After a while of walking, Nero spotted a structure different from the rest of the wasteland rubble. It seemed like some sort of fortification, built around one side of a building. "Hey", he called out. "Is that a settlement?"

Vergil looked into the direction the boy was pointing. "Could be. Someone has wanted to secure it, at least."

"Maybe there's food inside? Should we go check?"

Not replying to Nero, the blue twin started walking towards and through the makeshift walls and found a door behind them. It led inside the building, a high-rise like the rest of the buildings around them. Once inside, they were, surprisingly, greeted by a man and two women, all wearing pyjamas.

"Oh baby, let me get you something special! How about a Dukov surprise, hahah!" the man, apparently named Dukov immediately shouted after spotting Samantha. He had a Russian accent... "Nevermind. You need a drink. Cherry! Need some fucking booze over here!" he yelled at one of the women.

Samantha blinked, confused out of her mind. "Wh-wha... Who are those girls? A-and where are their clothes?" she asked, sounding almost too innocent.

"Ha ha! They're my party girls!" Dukov laughed. "I'm too much man for just one woman, so I need two! I wear them out every night. And why should they bother get dressed when I'm just going to take it off!"

"So those girls are just your... whores...?"

"Hey! Watch your language, clown-shoes. I don't pay them, they take care of me, so I take care of them. We rub each other wrong all night long!" And there it was again, the dirty, alcohol infused laughter.

"Ugh", Vergil grunted. "Let's get out of here before I get an headache..."

"You need to drink more!" Dukov said to him, offering a bottle that Vergil promptly refused.

The blue twin thought for a while, a certain glint appearing in his eyes. "Maybe I could take a look at what you have in store? I'm sure we'll find something for our tastes..."

"Sure! Help yourself, there's a cabinet upstairs. Feel free to take anything you want", the Russian man said, and Vergil started walking towards the staircase.

Nero and the rest of the group ran after him. "What are you doing?" the boy hissed. "We can't stop to get drunk!"

"No, you fool", Vergil whispered. "I'm going to see if he's storing any food. And if he is, I'm taking it. No objections."

"But that's... ... Okay fine, whatever..."

As the four walked up and into one of the rooms, they found the cabinet Dukov has mentioned. As well as a fridge next to it. Vergil opened it and called Samantha over. He put his hand on the shelf and dropped everything from inside into her bag.

"We're taking everything?" Samantha whimpered.

"Yes", Vergil answered blankly, closing the bag and the fridge. He then went to the cabinet and turned up his nose. Beer, wine... bah. He picked up a bottle of vodka and closed it, walking back downstairs with the others. He raised the bottle up slightly, looking at Dukov. "Can we take this to go?"

"But of course!" Dukov laughed. "The pleasure is all mine!"

They exited the building from the other side of it, coming onto a street heading straight into the direction they were going, like on the other side as well. They walked further from Dukov's place, looking for a safe place to stop and eat. They didn't need to go far, as they came across a small shelter ran by two raiders that were easily disposed of. Inside, they found more food than they did at the drunken Russian's place, and enough alcohol to get a poisoning. And beds - actual beds.

Samantha frowned, walking around the place. There were even shelves and tables against the makeshift walls. "Should we take the food back to Dukov?" she asked. "I feel bad for taking it, now... We've got enough here."

"No. That buffoon can manage on his own. And if he can't, well, it's not a big loss."

Nero walked around the place, looking at the shelves. "... Is that... milk...?" he asked with a frown, reaching for the bottle.

"Don't!" Vergil nearly yelped, darting his eyes on the boy. "Whatever you do, do not open that. It is indeed milk, but it's over 200 years old. The smell is bad enough to knock you out cold, trust me, I know." The boy grimaced, pulling his hand away from the bottle, deciding to leave it alone... Vergil looked at the sky, then at the beds. "Okay, there are two bunk beds, one bed for each. We can spend the night here."

"It's probably going to get cold at night..." Nero muttered coyly, glancing at Dante. "... we could share body heat..."

Dante smirked, chuckling lightly at Nero's shyness. "You're always welcome to my bed, kid", he purred with a wink. He could tell without looking how a questioning frown formed on his brother's face, and heard him snort, shaking the expression off and deciding not to ask about it. Dante was relieved to get this kind of a reaction instead of sheer disgust and a sarcastic remark, and sighed quietly.

 **Later at night** after they had eaten, Samantha seemed to fall asleep instantly, sleeping on the bed below Vergil's. The blue twin had his back turned to the other bed, so it was impossible to tell if he was awake or not, but he hadn't moved a bit after climbing up there. Nero and Dante were well awake, cuddled against each other on the lower bed on the other bunk.

Nero had his face nuzzled against Dante's chest, head resting on his arm. He traced the seams of the older man's coat with his Devil Bringer absentmindedly. "What are we doing, Dante?" he asked quietly. He felt Dante look down at him slightly and let out a questioning hum. "We're stuck in another dimension, a post-apocalyptic one, no less... And we're... helping a teen girl find her dad... ... Not that we shouldn't, but... How are we going to get back home? Have you thought about it?"

Dante sighed, stroking Nero's hair with his free hand. "I have", he whispered. "So far I've got nothing, but we'll find a way. For now we should just focus on the task at hand, since it seems to drag us around the place quite a lot. Better than running around aimlessly."

"Yeah, I guess... ... But when we do get home, we're not stepping through any fucking portals ever again, you hear me?"

The other snorted with laughter. "Yeah, I hear you..."

 **In the morning** , Nero awoke to a sound of a recording playing. It was a man's voice, coming from somewhere on his right. As he opened his eyes, he saw Dante, Vergil and Samantha, sitting on the bunk bed next to the one he was sleeping in, listening to something from Samantha's Pip-Boy.

 _"Hold on, Jonas. I need to record this"_ , the voice said. _"_ _I... don't really know how to tell you this. I hope you'll understand, but I know you might be angry. I thought about it for a long time, but in the end I decided it was best for you not to know. So many things could have gone wrong, and there's really no telling how the Overseer will react when he finds out. It's best if he can blame everything on me... Obviously, you already know that I'm gone. It was something I needed to do. You're an adult now. You're ready to be on your own. Maybe some day, things will change and we can see each other again. I can't tell you why I left or where I'm going. I don't want you to follow me. God knows life in the Vault isn't perfect, but at least you'll be safe. Just knowing that will be enough to keep me going."_

 _"_ _Don't mean to rush you, Doc, but I'd feel better if we got this over with"_ , there was another voice on the recording.

 _"_ _Okay. Go ahead. Goodbye. I love you."_ The recording ended with a sound of the recorder being stopped.

Nero looked at the three, noticed Samantha's saddened expression and proceeded to state the obvious. "Your dad, right?"

"Yeah..." the girl muttered. "I hadn't had a chance to listen to this before now... I found it on Jonas' corpse when I escaped..."

"... I'm sorry..."

Samantha waved her hand and smiled a bit. "We should get going, soon. Grab something to eat and we'll be off."

Their walk was surprisingly uneventful, all the way to Rivet City. Well, almost. Near the end they ended up fighting off a group of Super Mutants that held a wastelander captive, for some unexplained reason. When the mutants were all dead, they freed the man, who gave them a stimpak he'd been saving and ran off. The damn muties were armed with miniguns, so no one but Samantha came out of it unharmed, Dante and Vergil only with minor injuries.

"Oww, fuck!" Nero cursed as Samantha dug bullets from his shoulder. "Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK just **hurry up**!"

"It would be easier if you didn't squirm as much as you do", the girl muttered, finally pulling out the last bullet. "There we go! Now let's use a stimpak...", she said and injected a full syringe into the front of his elbow.

Nero watched her. "... Why'd you put it there? With Vergil you stuck the stuff directly on his injuries."

"Yes, but those were broken bones, these are just wounds and some damaged tissue. You'll be fine with one stimpak in your vein, it'll circle around your whole body."

"Huh..." the boy muttered, feeling a strange tingly feeling spread from the injected area all over his body and grow stronger in his wounded shoulder and the other bullet holes in his limbs. It wasn't necessarily uncomfortable sensation, and it took the pain away from his wounds. He could literally feel them closing if he thought about it. "Well, you're the doctor."

Samantha snickered. "Aaaaactually, I'm a tattoo artist."

"... What."

"In the vault we do this um... _'Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test'_ or _G.O.A.T._ for short. When we're sixteen. It tells us which line of work we're most suited in later and what course our studies should take. Well... I was studying to become a tattoo artist... ... All that I know now I learned from dad, who is a doctor and a scientist."

Dante crouched down next to Nero. "Do you think you can walk or should I carry you?"

"Pfft", Nero snorted. "How do you expect to carry both me and Red Queen?"

"Well I'll carry you on my back, that's how", the man smirked.

"... But you already have a sword on your back."

"Yeah, and then I'll have two swords. ... Or..." Dante paused to momentarily look on Nero's crotch area before returning his gaze to his face, "three swords", he murmured and wiggled his brows.

Nero blushed, quickly looking to a different direction to hide it. "I can walk..." he grunted and stood up, helped slightly by the older man.

As they were walking towards the city, now directly in front of them, Vergil kept glancing at the two hunters and couldn't help but ask. "So..." he began. "What's the deal between you two?"

Samantha lifted her head also, turning to look at them. "You know I was just wondering the same thing."

"Or actually, the only thing I'm not sure about is if it's romantic or sexual", Vergil added, squinting his eyes. "Or perhaps both?"

"Eh... both..." Dante muttered, glancing at Nero, who was now red as a firetruck. "... Yeah..."

"Ah", the blue twin breathed out. "I see. Well, I can't say I'm surprised. You always seemed to have that in you."

"... Have what in me?"

"Homosexual tendencies." Nero burst out laughing like a maniac.

"What, no!" Dante yelped. "I... You're kidding me."

"Afraid I'm not", Vergil spoke, a faint smirk forming on his lips. "But really though, you shouldn't feel bad about it. I dare say almost 90% of demons in general are bisexual, and some have both male and female mates simultaneously."

"... Oh."

Samantha giggled. "Ah, well, I think it's cute."

They walked up a metallic staircase that had a sign 'Rivet City' on it, and ended up on a platform with an intercom on it. Next to the platform there was a gap, and behind the gap, the entrance to the city. Samantha spotted a man, sitting on the platform, begging for water. She gave a quick, apologetic glance at Vergil before rushing to give him some of hers.

Nero walked to the intercom and awkwardly pressed the button on it. "Um... Hi?"

 _"_ _Welcome to Rivet City"_ , said the voice in the intercom, apparently belonging to the man standing on the other side. _"Please wait while the bridge extends."_ With that, a large metallic structure from the other side started moving, turning into place and forming a bridge over the gap.

Samantha walked back beside the others. "So uh... Let's go then", she chirped, leading them across. Before they could get all the way across, they were stopped by a male guard.

"Hold it right there", he said, holding a rifle. "State your business in Rivet City."

"I'm... looking for my father", the girl answered.

"And who might your father be? If he lives on this boat, I know him."

"He doesn't live here", Samantha replied. "He came here to see Doctor Li."

"Doctor Li, eh?" He snorted. "Well then I guess you'd have to ask _Doctor Li_ for more information. Go on up, then. She's probably in the Science Lab. But keep your nose clean, you hear me?" After saying that, he returned to his post, leaning on the outside wall of the city.

"What a douche..." Nero muttered as they walked inside the massive building.

It wasn't difficult to find their way to the Science Lab, all they had to do was follow the signs inside. The place used to be a ship, a military aircraft carrier, everywhere they looked they saw pipes and cords running on the walls and the ceiling. The doors were all ship doors with lock wheels.

The Science Lab itself didn't look like what typically comes to mind when someone says _'science'_. It had lab equipment and people wearing lab-coats, sure. But the floor and walls were like in the earlier areas of Rivet City; dark and covered with litter and dirt. Rusty pipes hung from the ceiling and attached to some kind of barrels. Before they could get to searching Doctor Li, they were approached by an elderly man.

"You there! What are you, some kind of a lab assistant? No, you look a bit more... weathered. Are you by any chance... for hire?" he asked. It was almost ridiculous, how everyone always automatically glued their eyes on Samantha and not on any of the white haired men following her. Maybe it was due to the fact that she walked in front of them, appearing to be their 'leader'. (Vergil took the lead when they were out in the Wasteland, though.)

Samantha frowned. "You have a problem with the way I look?" she asked.

"How amusing. You've mistaken my metaphor for a derogatory remark. I need a local, you see. Someone with verve", the man spoke. "The name's Zimmer. And it happens that I've misplaced some very sensitive 'property', and I need help finding it."

"Cut to the chase, Zimmer", Vergil grunted, sounding obviously bored. "What's the job?"

"Ah, I knew I picked the right people for the job", Zimmer grinned. "Now, let me be clear, you won't be looking for a lost puppy or family heirloom. You'll be searching for an android! Do you know what an android is? No, I imagine you don't", he spoke before anyone could answer his question. "You see, we've moved beyond those primitive buckets you call robots, and have created Artificial Intelligence. Sentient machines! Artificial persons that think and feel what we program them to. Occasionally their programming miscalculates, they get confused and wander off."

"So..." Samantha blinked, confused. "Any... suggestions for finding this android...?"

"I suspect he's had a facial reconstruction and possibly even a mind wipe. Search the offices of doctors or techies for android information. If he's come into contact with these people, there may be records. Start with Doctor Preston. He lives on this leaky boat. See if he knows anything. He's a 'doctor' after all... Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm busy trying to ignore my surroundings", the elder said and ended the conversation, moving to stand next to a wall.

Nero leaned in closer to the girl. "You're not going to search for that android, right?"

Samantha turned to look at him. "Why not?"

"Think about it... If it's an android that simply 'wandered off', why would they get a facial reconstruct and a mind wipe? I think it escaped... What Zimmer just told just sounds like slavery to me, so it's no wonder."

"... Yeah, you're right..." Samantha said. "If these things really are that intelligent and even feel things... They shouldn't be forced into service..."

"Great, so", Dante said. "Let's just focus on finding Doctor Li."

"I think that's her", Nero said, pointing towards a woman standing near the lab equipment. "At least she's the only Asian I see around here and I think the doctor we're looking for is Asian, so..."

"Let's go check", Samantha spoke and walked to the woman. "Hi, I-"

"Look, this is a restricted area. I'm tired of telling you people-" she snapped, then her expression softened noticeably and her eyebrows rose in surprise. "I... It's you. My heavens, you look so much like him..." she breathed out. "You're James' daughter, aren't you? What are you doing here?"

"I'm just- ... Wait... How do you know who I am? Have we met?" Samantha asked.

"You were too young to remember, and I suppose James never spoke of me. Typical", Doctor Li sighed. "I am Doctor Madison Li. I worked with your parents many years ago. Now I run the Science Lab here in Rivet City. When your mother died, your father decided to leave with you. He abandoned our work, and we had no choice but to do the same", she said with a sad tone.

Dante glanced at Samantha. "I thought you were born inside that vault?"

"I... wasn't..." the girl admitted, looking down. "Dad brought me there when I was a baby and I've just been told that I was born there my whole life... I read it off Moriarty's terminal when I hacked it..." She looked up at the doctor again. "... I'm trying to find my father, have you seen him?"

"You mean you haven't? I assumed he sent you here", Madison asked, sounding a bit surprised. "And for that matter, aren't you supposed to be in a vault? James said he left you there."

"Well, I left the vault to look for him."

"Did you? I was under the impression that's exactly the opposite of what he wanted for you. Well, you won't find him here. He's come and gone already."

"Figures..." Vergil grunted under his breath.

"Could you please tell me where he's gone?" the ginger girl pleaded.

Doctor Li sighed. "Your father insisted that we return to work on Project Purity. I tried telling him too much time has passed; there's no way it would work. Predictably, he refused to listen to me. He says he can prove it will work, and headed off to the old lab in the old Jefferson Memorial building. I'm sorry, I don't know what else to tell you."

"Well, if that's where my father went, that's where I must go, too. Thanks for the help", Samantha said and walked away from the Asian doctor, who wished her luck finding her father.

Dante leaned on a refrigerator on the side of the lab equipment tables, crossing one foot over the other. "So we're going to some memorial building next?"

"Yeah, apparently... I have a feeling it's the one we saw on our way here, the round-roofed thing."

"Oh yeah..." Dante muttered, remembering what Samantha was referring to. "So, what's the time? Are we going to spend the night here?"

The girl looked at her Pip-Boy. "Yes I think that's wise... I'm quite sure it's not too recently that dad passed through here, so a couple of hours shouldn't matter too much... We'll go check it out in the morning."


	8. Chapter 8

It's actually really hard to fit any DxN into this fic :'D And I feel like despite writing somewhat lengthy chapters very little actually happens in them. Whoops. Well, no can do I guess. I don't make every chapter a novel so that's how it just has to be :D

Chapter 8.

Finding the hotel wasn't hard, there were signs pointing towards it all the way from the Science Lab to the hotel itself. 'The Weatherly Hotel', they said. As they walked through the rusty walled hallways and into the room that appeared to be the hotel reception, they were greeted by a floating robot that had a body in shape of a ball with three round 'eyes' connected to it. In addition it had three metallic 'tentacles', one could say, that served as arms. One had some kind of pliers at the end, the other something that looked like a small flamethrower, and the third was a small circular saw. Samantha approached the robot, saying she had one in the house she was given in Megaton that served as her butler. Kind of cool, actually.

"Welcome to the Weatherly Hotel! I am Mister Buckingham. How may I serve you?" the robot asked. It spoke with a British accent.

Samantha turned to look at the men following her. "How many rooms do we need?"

Vergil snorted. "Depends how much they cost and how many beds they have."

"We currently only have one room available, as the two others are occupied. 120 caps per night, sir", the robot receptionist butted in.

The blue twin clicked his tongue, tilting his head slightly in irritation. "Of course you do... I suppose we don't have a choice... We'll take it."

"Excellent! Simply venture into the hallway, turn left, first door on your left. That is your room."

"Should we get something to eat, too? I'm starving", Dante asked. "And we haven't got anything but some snacks left."

The girl turned back to the robot. "Do you sell food?"

They bought some food and left for their room. The robot sold barely anything but the same snack type food they already carried and some kind of lizard meat. They bought enough food for the night and the morning, and some Nuka-Cola. Oddly enough Mister Buckingham was willing to buy the extra ammo they had with them that wasn't any good for the weapons they had, and they ended up getting more money than they had before they bought the room. Now they had 354 bottle caps.

Vergil groaned as they got to the room. "I should have guessed..." he grunted, pointing towards one side of the room. "One, fucking, double bed."

"Mmh..." Nero frowned. "Should we take turns sleeping?"

"No need..." Vergil muttered, taking off the coat he was wearing with a pissed frown and dropped it on the ground. "I'm sleeping on the floor, the three of you can fit there just fine..."

Dante blinked. "Are you sure? I can switch with you if you want to."

"I'm used to sleeping like this. Besides I rather sleep on a hard surface than so close to someone there could be accidental skin contact."

"Uh... Alright."

Nero put Samantha's bag down on the ground, having carried it for her for a while, and sat on the bed. "So, what's the plan? We sleep and then leave for the Jefferson Memorial to look for your dad?"

"Probably yeah", Samantha answered, sitting on the other side of the bed. "Then if we find him I can finally ask him what the hell is going on... I mean, I already know he was working with a science team on something called 'Project Purity', but I don't know what that project is about and what's so important about it... Damn, I should have asked Doctor Li while I was there..." She turned to look at Dante. "What are you guys going to do if whe find him?"

The older man shrugged, smiling in his carefree way. "I guess we'll try to find someone or something that would help us get back to our world, a lead or a clue or something."

"Bah", Vergil snorted. "Don't you think I haven't searched for something like that? Judging from the fact that Mundus knew you were coming here before you even did, I'm quite sure that your arrival was his doing. We're not getting out of here until he says so. But I'm fairly certain he's brought us here to die, seeing how we're reduced to human level and this realm is extremely dangerous."

"You're just pessimistic, Verge", Dante smiled. "Every plan has a fault somewhere, we're just gonna need to find it."

"Not a pessimist, realist. I've been here for weeks, and your optimism is really annoying at this point."

"I'm still saying you're a pessimist. Let's just eat something now and go to sleep, gotta catch Sam's dad before he's off somewhere again", Dante said and climbed onto the bed and into the middle. "I think it's best I sleep here, Nero has a tendency to cling onto things next to him when he sleeps and I think it's best it's me and not you", he chuckled, looking at Samantha.

"Yeah okay, that's fine by me", the girl snickered, noticing the said boy's blush.

 **On the next morning** the group left Rivet City the same way they'd entered, as there were no other exits on the boat. They could see the memorial building all the way from the drawbridge, as it wasn't too far away. Before they left towards it, Samantha made sure to stop to give the beggar outside the city another bottle of purified water.

"No no, wait, fuck", Samantha groaned, rubbing her brows. "Guys we need to buy more ammo, we're running low, remember?"

"Shit, that's true", Dante muttered, placing a hand on one of his colts. "I keep forgetting that I actually need to reload in this place... ... I guess we gotta go back in then, huh", he laughed, half at how tired his brother looked, having to go back in.

The gun shop was the stall nearest to the exit at the market place of Rivet City; a large hall with all kinds of rubble laying around from scraps of paper to truck tires. The stalls were made of open leather tents with shelves and tables inside to hold the items for sale, and chairs where the shopkeepers were sitting. The shop for guns was called 'Flak'n'Sharpnel's', Flak was the name of the man they approached.

Vergil glanced at everyone, making a mental note on their weapons before turning to look at the man. "We're going to need some ammo. Shotgun shells, 10mm, .32, 5.56mm and some .45 ACP rounds. And sell some weapons."

The shopkeeper stared at the man for a while before getting up from the couch and walking over to his stuff with a stretch. "You know your shit. You a mercenary?"

"Just a wanderer."

"Uh-huh... Well, it appears I have what you're looking for, take your pick and I'll tell you the price. And of course, take the price of weapons you're selling off the sum", Flak said and lifted an ammo box on the table and let the group take the stuff they needed and load their weapons. However, smart as he was, Vergil had picked up every disabled pulse mine and grenade on their way to Rivet City, and the shopkeeper ended up paying them 215 caps at the end of the purchase. And they walked out of Rivet City with 569 bottle caps in their bag.

"You know, I kinda feel bad how we're making people pay us when we buy stuff from them", Samantha muttered. "It doesn't feel fair."

"It's fair, their fault for wanting to buy stuff so bad", Nero snickered.

As they walked to the Memorial, they had to fight four Super Mutants wandering outside. Vergil made some comments on how a single doctor wearing a lab coat would most likely have met his end before even reaching the building, and Samantha of course refused to believe anything the blue twin suggested, saying that there should have been a body outside if he had died. Inside they had to fight off a couple of mutants, a turret defense system having killed several beforehand. Yet another remark on how the doctor was more likely dead.

A little bit deeper inside, they came across a huge tank of water, and a some kind of a lab built around it. Two Super Mutants were circling in the area, and were quickly disposed of. On a some sort of a device they found three holodisks, titled 'Project Purity Personal Journal', entries 5, 8 and 10. They decided to give them a listen through Samantha's Pip-Boy,but the girl insisted they should try and locate the other entries as well. So they left to wander a bit deeper, still.

They found the rest of the existing entries, titled just 'Project Purity Personal Journal', and the others were entries 1, 2 and 3. There was an extra holodisk, called 'Better Days', and they decided to listen to it first.

 _"_ _...that batch of tests was inconclusive, but Madison and I are convinced it's a problem with the secondary filtration system"_ , a woman's voice said. _"We're going to re-calibrate the equipment and try again tomorrow, so that... James, please, I'm trying to work. Now's not the time..."_ the speaker was clearly interrupted by this 'James' character. Everyone of course remembered that was the name Doctor Li had called Samantha's father, and noticed the girl flinch visibly. _"So that's the next step. Assuming we get the results we need, we'll move on to... James! Stop! I need to finish these notes..."_ the woman was giggling but managed to put on a straight tone before continuing. _"We'll move on to diagnosing the issues with the radiation dampeners. That should... Ow! James! Now? We really shouldn't..."_ the rest of the tape was laughter and cut off quickly.

Nero turned to look at the girl with a worried expression. "... Was that your mother?" he asked.

Samantha was quiet for a while and nodded. "I... I guess it was... ... A-anyways, moving on", she said and quickly put on the next tape, titled just personal journal with no entry number. It was spoken with a familiar voice from an earlier tape, James's voice. He sounded really sad throughout the tape.

 _"Well, here we are again. Project Purity and me. It's been close to twenty years since my last entry. Since I left all of this behind to make a life for my daughter. We spent all that time in Vault 101, tucked away from the rest of the world. It wasn't perfect, but it was safe, and that's all I could have hoped for. Now, my daughter is a grown woman. Beautiful, intelligent, confident. Just like her mother. And as hard as it was to admit it, she doesn't need her daddy anymore."_

Samantha sighed, sounding somewhat sad. "See? He did make it through the muties."

Vergil snorted. "I must say I'm impressed." The second entry they played was entry number 1, and then all the rest of them, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 10. They seemed to be all the existing entries available, as they couldn't find any others. No one said a word between the rest of the tapes, just listened.

 _"So here I am, back where it all began. Project Purity. God, we wanted to change the world. We really thought the waters of life could be a reality. And that's why this is a momentous occasion. Because even after nineteen years, I still believe it. Project Purity can and will be operational. This is just the beginning."_

 _"This is day 2 of my attempt to resurrect this project. I've got one of the portable fusion generators up and running, but it's just enough to power the emergency lighting and a couple of other systems. It will serve for now, but I need help powering up the mainframe. I have to visit Madison in Rivet City."_

 _"I spoke with Doctor Li, Madison, at Rivet City. It went about as well as I expected. That is to say she thinks I'm completely mad. How can I blame her? She's got her own life, her own team, and is making real tangible scientific progress. Here I come again, the very paragon of failure and false promises. But the reality is, I need Madison and whatever scientific team she may have assembled. I can't do this myself. Project Purity is bigger than me, it always was. And without Catherine... God, I can't let this die. Not again, not like this."_

 _"Even in Vault 101, my work on Project Purity never really stopped. Soon after we arrived, my nightly routine included sneaking into the restricted areas. Searching for, I don't know, whatever I could find. It was a Vault-Tec facility after all. The place was built with some of the most advanced technology this country had ever developed. Those excursions never turned up anything particularly useful. So one night, after half a bottle of scotch, I broke into the Overseer's office. It was easy enough to hack his console, gain access to the restricted files. Most of it was garbage: propaganda, spy reports, just plain rambling bullshit, really. But there was one thing, one name that stood out amongst all the others... Dr. Stanislaus Braun. I knew of Braun's work, of course. He was a celebrity in his day. Vault-Tec's sorcerer-scientist, leaving his peers in awe of his technological wizardry. But it was in Vault 101 that night in the Overseer's office, that I first learned of Braun's involvement in Vault-Tec's social preservation program, and his work on something called GECK, Garden of Eden Creation Kit."_

 _"To be honest, the GECK sounded like pure fantasy, even for someone of Braun's capabilities. It was nothing short of a miracle. A terra-forming module, capable of producing life from complete lifelessness. But not only was this thing a reality, it was actually distributed to several vaults to be used after an atomic war. Vault 101 was, sadly, not on that list. I did some digging and discovered Braun's name on the reservation list for a Vault 112. I'm no slouch, but this man, he could have easily succeeded where I failed. Does his collected knowledge remain within the halls of Vault 112? Journals, holotapes, computer records, maybe even experiments? If I could gain access to just a fraction of Braun's genius, Project Purity would become a reality."_

 _"I'm off to Vault 112"_ , everyone's shoulders slumped slightly at this. He had taken off again, _"to search for anything of Braun's that might help me get this purifier up and running. All I know is that it's West of some place called_ _'_ _Evergreen Mills,_ _'_ _and it's well hidden in some sort of garage. But I'll find it, I have to. It's so close, but that's the story of Project Purity, isn't it? An eternity of_ _'_ _almost there's_ _'_ _. Let's see if Braun has the missing puzzle piece."_

"So..." Dante sighed. "Off to Vault 112 then, huh?"

"I guess we've got no choice..." Samantha muttered, sighing. "My Pip-Boy found the location based on 'Evergreen Mills', it's pointing us to the right direction. It's... Pretty far away... ... We should probably go back to Rivet City and spend the night there again, so we can leave early. I'd hate to travel in the dark..."

"Sounds like a plan."


	9. Chapter 9

I bought a DLC to Fallout 3 that allows me to play after finishing the main questline and adds more quests after it. I don't know if I will use it in this, but if I do this fic will become longer and will save me from writing something very unpleasant that would probably make me and some of you cry like hell :) But, as I said, I don't know if I'll use it, yet. If I do, I would get a more pleasant job at writing and a happy ending, but if I don't it might be better story-wise though I'd probably need to change this fic's genre to tragedy... Hmmmmmmmm I don't even know how the DLC ends because I've never played it haha. I guess it's a "wait and see".

* * *

Chapter 9.

The group left the city around 7:30 in the morning, stopping to buy food on their way out in case they didn't come across any in a while. The map on Samantha's Pip-Boy only showed their destination but no route, and they didn't know what was ahead of them and if there were any roads to follow. Their trip was very uneventful until they came by the river and discovered a small shack by it. Naturally, they went inside to check if the place hid any useful items. All they could find was just alcohol and cigarettes, however... Until Samantha stumbled upon a footlocker and opened it.

"Oh my", she gasped, pulling out something that looked like an outfit of sort. "I think I found armor... ... And it's in such a good shape, too."

Vergil snatched the armor from the girl's hands, holding it up to see it in full. "It is indeed armor... And not too shabby either, this is something that those Brotherhood of Steel folks dress their initiates in, and make them look ridiculous in the process. But it does give protection." He eyed the outfit up and down, frowning slightly. "It's men's, but quite small... It wouldn't fit either Dante or me." Vergil was quiet for a while before he, as well as Dante and Samantha, turned to look at Nero.

"... Wait, guys don't look at me like that!" Nero yelped. "I'm fine with what I'm wearing now, thanks."

"That's no armor at all, kid", Dante said, crossing his arms on his chest. "You need something to block bullets and stuff, you know that getting hurt here is dangerous. And since it won't fit me, well... We shouldn't put it to waste."

"... So you want me to strip and change my clothes here, right now? I don't even know how to wear that shit!"

"I'll give you a hint", Vergil smirked, throwing the armor at the boy. "Put your feet through the holes that point down."

Nero clicked his tongue, placing the armor on the table with an angered frown. "Well get the fuck out of here while I change, okay? I don't need anyone peeping on me", he grunted, practically pushing everyone else out of the shack.

A while later the boy stepped out to the wasteland where the others were waiting for him, sitting on the wooden pier built next to the small building. He was wearing his coat over the armor, and even the red hoodie, although it had to be open because it would look stupid if zipped. He had managed to stuff the armor under his jeans, as the only places with metal paddings were the knees and boots. He'd ripped holes on his pants where the padding was so that the armor showed through and made moving in it easier. He'd given up his own boots and wore the armored ones in their stead.

"Hey, doesn't look half-bad actually", Dante said in an encouraging tone.

Nero squinted his eyes. "Are you color-blind, old man? This suit is goddamn beige... It doesn't go well with any of my other clothes..."

"As long as it keeps you alive, it doesn't matter", the older hunter smiled.

Nero looked at his partner for a while, studying his expression. His smile was so gentle, loving. Dilated pupils and all. The boy grunted, scratching his nose coyly before walking past the red-clad man, shoving him gently with his side. "Let's just keep going... We need to get there before nightfall..."

"Agreed", said Vergil, as he got up from his sitting spot.

Their walk became a little bit longer than they expected, as they had to circle around a bit immediately after crossing the river. They had come across a walled area that appeared to serve as a base for the Brotherhood of Steel. None of them were too eager to go explore that place now, so they just found a way around it on the south side.

As they walked, Vergil suddenly froze, taking several quick steps back and pulled everyone down behind some concrete and hissed at them to stay quiet and still. The man peeked over the cover and pulled his head back in hiding with a deep sigh and frown. "Fuck, this is not going according to plan..." he mumbled.

"What? What is it?" Nero whispered, trying to see what was it that they were hiding from.

"A Deathclaw... That's the kind of creature you do not want to encounter. I thought they were only in the northern parts..." Vergil grunted, peeking over the cover again. "... I don't see it anymore. I think we're clear but stay on your guard."

"What's a Deathclaw? I think you've mentioned them before, it sounds kinda familiar."

"I might have, yes... They're just about the meanest sons of bitches you can find in the wasteland. You've seen Super Mutants so you know this thing is not to be messed with."

"... Hey, Vergil, I... I was kinda wondering the other night, how do you know all this stuff? Dante said you didn't use guns but you knew exactly what kind of ammo all of our weapons use, you know the local monster lore and plenty of other stuff and you haven't been here for that long."

"Hm, that's Vergil for you", Dante snorted. "Absorbing knowledge like a sponge... Always been that way." He stood up from behind the cover, looking around the area. "Yup, we're clear I think. Let's keep heading that way", he said and pointed to the direction they were walking before, starting to walk ahead.

Nero glanced at Vergil as the three caught up to the older hunter. "Have you encountered Deathclaws before? You know what they look like and what area they're found in."

"I have..." Vergil sighed. "It did not go well, and I'm lucky to be alive. Literally. The creature hit me with its claws hard enough to send me flying and opened my side with its talons... I landed in a pile of rotting corpses from its earlier hunt, and their smell must have made it think that I was dead, too, else it wouldn't have left me be. I managed to crawl to safety after it had left and tend to my wounds. I was left with several deep scars from that one swipe. A great reminder if I ever forget that one hit is fatal when dealing with them."

"Can I see them?" Samantha blurted out, making Vergil look at him with a weird expression. "I-I mean- Not right now! Some... Some other time. ... I wanna see them."

"... Why...?"

"I... I wanna hear stories of the Wasteland", the girl mumbled, blushing. "I've been living under a pile of rocks all my life, remember...?"

A devilish smirk formed on Dante's face, and he turned to look at the rest of the group while walking. "Awww, look at that... I think someone has a crush~"

Samantha blushed deep crimson and her eyes blew wide open. "What!? Ew, no!" She flinched and shot her gaze towards Vergil. "I-I meant no offense! You're not gross or anything you're... You're just a bit too old for me, a-and-"

"There you go, old man", Nero laughed. "Even she thinks you guys are old, and we're the same age."

"Shit, I mean...! God..." the ginger haired girl groaned, hiding her face on her hands. "Well the point is I don't have a crush on him!"

"Pfft, yeah relax I was just teasing you", Dante snickered.

Vergil blinked with a frown, not entirely sure what the hell had just happened. "Yeah, well anyways, we should just keep moving... We're never going to reach the vault at this rate..."

"True enough. Let's go", Nero chuckled.

After a while walking and shooting down a few raiders, they came across a small settlement that, surprisingly enough, wasn't hostile. They were greeted with a young boy, aged around 10-12, wearing a red baseball cap and a striped shirt.

"You're new, aren't you?" he spoke, sounding amazed. "Wow! I never get a chance to talk to the new people first! My dad always takes care of them before I get a chance. Welcome to Andale, strangers!" he said and lifted his hat slightly in a greeting manner.

"Andale? Can you tell me more of this place?" Samantha asked, looking around the white wooden fences and worn houses. The fences looked pre-war, which was kinda amazing.

"It's swell! Except... I wish there were more kids. And my dad says I have to marry smelly ol' Jenny Wilson some day. He keeps saying stuff to my mom about keeping the families going, and how he and Mr. Wilson were brothers, they didn't want to get married. It's weird... That means Mr. Wilson is my uncle and Jenny is... something. I don't know. It seems weird to marry her", the boy trailed off, mumbling. Dante and Vergil glanced at each other with a meaningful expression.

"Oh uh... Okay... Could we talk to your dad, then? Or the other people here?" the girl asked.

As if on cue, they were approached by a man wearing a pre-war outfit, a sweater pulled over a collar shirt and pants, who introduced himself as Bill Wilson. He wasn't much help, though, he just praised Andale to the group and said that there was no room to let other people live there, however, and excused himself to go to work.

"Something seems off..." Nero muttered as the man and they boy walked further away. "These people are hiding something..."

"So?" Vergil snorted. "Let's not get involved."

"But the sun is setting..." Dante noted. "We could spend the night here, or around here at least. We don't need to get involved, but let's look around a bit."

"... That is getting involved... Oh, very well, do what you want", the blue twin sighed.

The group stepped inside a smaller house, seeing how everyone else, the two adult men and their families went into the larger ones they thought it empty. They were wrong, however as they met an elderly man living inside.

"What? Who- What are you doing in here!? Get out! Get out of this town while you still can!" the man shouted, sounding almost panicked.

"Whoa, slow down, grandpa", Nero said. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? You don't see anything wrong in a nice little down with friendly people in the middle of a blasted wasteland?" the old man questioned.

"What's wrong with being friendly?" Dante asked, crossing his arms and leaning on the door frame.

"Nothing wrong with being friendly, but these folks aren't just friendly - they're killers! You just watch your back around here and get out while you can!" the man shouted, leaving the room and shutting himself in the bedroom.

Nero looked at the others. "See, told you."

"I find myself curious", Vergil hummed. "Maybe we really should look around... What are a couple of humans to us, anyway."

The three entered the other houses as well, talking to everyone in town. Which only included six people; Jack and Linda Smith and their son Junior, Bill and Martha Wilson and their daughter Linda, who refused to talk to them. Everyone was sickeningly friendly, talking about good old America and how wonderful Andale was. When they mentioned the old man talking about killers, Martha had slipped that the man was her father. Others had said that the old man was named Harris Smith, which made things even more disturbing.

"Fuck, these people are disgusting..." Vergil grunted as he turned a key in the door leading to a garden shack behind the Wilsons' house. He'd stolen the key on their visit out of curiosity. "First we hear that Bill and Jack are brothers, then that Martha is that old mans' daughter which, judging by surname, makes her Bill and Jack's sister... These folks are a bunch of inbreeding maniacs..."

"Wonder if that's why they seem soft in the head..." Nero muttered, turning up his nose. The door opened and the group walked into the shack. "But do you think they're really killers? Although at this point, I don't think I'd be surprised by... any...thing..." he swallowed his words as they walked deeper in, seeing the shack's blood covered walls and several human skeletons hanging from the ceiling by chains. There were even small cages with rotting skeletons in them around the corners. On the table there were miniature chainsaws and sharp knives, along with pieces of meat and bones. And fridges. Filled with meat that wasn't from any known animal.

"... I think I'm going to be sick..." Samantha muttered, holding her eyes shut tight and turning away from the sight.

"... These people are eating humans..." Dante muttered, shocked by what he was seeing. He glanced at Vergil, noticing his only slightly disgusted expression. "... How can you be so... normal?"

The older twin looked at his brother briefly, sighing and scratching the back of his neck. "Eh, I don't know how to answer that question without sounding like a homicidal psycho... I'm... used to it...? I've seen worse..."

"Suddenly getting out of this town sounds like a good idea..." Nero mumbled, walking to the door, being closely followed by the others who were as eager to get out of the shack as he was.

Outside, they were immediately greeted by Jack Smith, who pointed a gun at them. "Hey there, stranger!" he began. "I couldn't help but notice you were poking around in Bill's shed... So uh... Did you find what you were looking for in there?"

"Yes, and we saw what you're hiding in there, you sick bastard!" Vergil growled, pulling out his shotgun.

"I'm disappointed in you stranger - so quick to judge us", Jack interrupted before Vergil could pull the trigger. "Did you ever stop to think that I have a family to support here? 'Judge not, lest ye be judged' as the good book says. Honestly, how many people have you killed? The only difference between us is that that I'm bringing home the bacon for my family. "

"Bring home the... Those are people, not bacon! What the fuck, man!?" Nero yelped.

"Hey! I'll have none of that language in this house!"

Vergil sighed, gritting his teeth. "Seriously, you're talking about eating people, here. What's wrong with you?"

"I don't think I like your tone. There's nothing wrong with me, we've lived this way for decades After the war, four families survived. They continued on just like we have. But when their shelters ran out of food, they need to eat something. Now, let's just forget that this happened and we'll have no problem, right?"

"No. Sorry Jack, but you need to die", the blue twin said, blasting half of Jack's head off with his shotgun before he got a chance to reply. He immediately aimed at one of the women, ending her life just as easily with a single shot, since they were all wearing no armor. As the shotgun could only fire twice at a time, he finished the Wilsons off with Yamato, quickly unsheathing it and swinging the extremely sharp blade through both of their torsos with a motion that resembled a pirouette. The bodies collapsed onto the ground, bleeding out into the grass and dirt.

"... I like how fast you work..." Nero muttered. Although seeing humans being butchered like that was something he wasn't going to get used to anytime soon. "... Wonder what will happen to the kids. And that old man..."

"Let's go see him. Tell him what happened", Samantha suggested, and the men followed her to the man's house.

The old man had seen what had happened, though, and he thanked them for it. He told that he had also been brought up cannibal, and it had seemed normal since everyone had done it in Andale. He was the father of all four adults that lived in there, and said he had given up cannibalism many many years ago. He said he would do his best raising the children right, and thanked the group again for ending the cannibalism in town.

"So uh..." Dante said as they walked out of old man Harris's house. "You guys wanna sleep in the Wilsons' house or the Smiths' house...?"

"... Does it really even matter at this point...? They were both just as awful..." Nero mumbled.

"Yeah, true... Let's just go to Wilsons', it's closer by."

"Alright... Don't know if I can sleep very well knowing what I do, but alright."

* * *

Yeah I got sidetracked. I had never seen Andale before in my playthroughs xD


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10.

Everyone slept surprisingly well, considering the fact they were sleeping in a house of a murderous cannibal family that had an incest kid running around. In the morning they didn't eat anything from the house, as the thought of accidentally eating human flesh was way too disgusting to risk it, and since they had eaten the rest of the food they had with them at the night before, they had to leave town with empty stomachs. They agreed on going towards their destination in a straight line with minimal curves to save time.

Quite a while after they had left Andale they were attacked by three hitmen, apparently after Samantha for some reason. They had barely managed to kill the three before a large animal jumped seemingly from nowhere and attempted to attack the group, that dodged it just in time. A few well placed shots in the creature's head from all of them killed it before it could jump for another attack.

"Jesus Christ!" Dante breathed out as he looked at the fresh kill before them. It resembled a bald bear, in a way, some patches of fur still on its body and an unnaturally muscular body structure. "What is that thing?" He waited for a moment to get an answer, but he didn't. He looked around a bit. "Vergil?" he called, getting no answer, still. Dante turned around to check his backside as well, and quickly enough his eyes caught an all too familiar person, sprawled on the ground face down in a small pool of blood. "No... No no no no no", he repeated as he rushed to his brother, turning him around on his back and quickly placing his hand on his neck and feeling it for a moment to check his pulse. He sighed deeply in relief and leaned his head back, slumping his shoulders. "Oh, thank god..."

"He's alive?" Samantha asked worriedly as she too sat down next to the body.

"Yes, he's alive, but unconscious... Looks like that bear thing got to him before we even noticed it..." Dante spoke quietly and carefully turned Vergil's head to get a better view of the large wounds on its left side left by the animal's claws. They weren't deep enough to penetrate the skull, which was obviously great news, but deep enough to leave grooves on the side of the head even after they had turned into scars. They drew four lines all the way from the back of his head to his cheek, the longest wound reaching the cheekbone under his eye, all bleeding like hell.

"Here, let me apply a Stimpak there..." Samantha said, carefully turning the man's head and placed the tip of the syringe needle in his skin near the wounds, applying the liquid in small doses around the whole area until it was empty. She uncorked a bottle of vodka from her bag and poured some on a rag and started to clean the already healing wounds. "You know, he's got the strangest luck... Of the four of us he seems to always take the worst beating despite being the most experienced one."

"True that", Nero snorted, standing behind Dante and looking around the place they were at. It was still pretty much in the middle of nowhere in the Wasteland, got some rocks here and there and a collapsed bridge with the rubble you'd expect around it. "I'll go look for a spot that's less exposed than this where we can wait for him to wake up and recover. I won't go far", the boy said and left to wander around the place.

Dante looked at his twin laying down on the ground as the girl's skilled hands worked on his injuries and cleaned the blood off his skin. He squinted his eyes slightly, then looked around them a little before returning his attention to the two. "I don't suppose that even if we found it you could attach his ear back to his head?"

Samantha stopped what she was doing and lifted the rag off Vergil's head to look at the wounds and the place where an ear is normally located. "... No, suppose not", she snorted with a smile. "He'll have to manage without his left ear from now on."

"Heh, well, more things to tell us apart by I guess", Dante chuckled. "Will he be okay?"

"Well I hope so, he's alive so that's a good start. He might have suffered a skull fracture or a concussion, perhaps both. But those won't kill him, and the stimpak will heal the injuries in no time."

"Glad to hear it."

Some minutes later, they had moved Vergil from the ground to a more hidden spot in the Wasteland, picked by Nero. It was in the rubble of the fallen bridge, two pieces of it forming a small triangular shelter and a small piece of concrete hid the 'entrance' a bit. It wasn't much but better than nothing, it gave them some cover. Not too long after, the blue twin started to wake up, and Samantha noticed him carefully, not completely conscious yet, touching the wounds on his head as if to check the damage.

"Ah, you're awake!" she chirped, moving closer to the man with Dante and Nero. She held up her hand and made the peace sign. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Vergil looked at her like she had asked him if the sky was blue. "Two... How long was I out?" he asked and sat up, leaning on his hands for support as the world suddenly spun harshly and made him nearly fall on his side.

"Take it easy, bro", Dante spoke. "Less than half an hour, don't know for sure. So not too long."

The other sighed, his balance returning and he rubbed his brows with the other hand. "Why is it always me who gets hit hardest... Did you kill that animal?"

"Yeah, we were actually just talking about your shitty luck a moment ago. If we weren't here you would have bled out after the hit, so, you're welcome", the red twin smirked.

"If you weren't here, I wouldn't be either. So yes, thanks a bunch..." Vergil stood up from the ground and brushed some dust off his clothes. He looked around himself and noticed the bear-creature's dead body some distance away downhill. "But honestly, I have no idea what that is. Some sort of post-apocalyptic bear, that's for sure, but I don't know what the locals call it. I've never seen one of those before."

"Oh, hey, we're almost there now", Samantha noticed as she looked through her Pip-Boy's map. She looked somewhere in the northwest. "... I think it's pointing to that building in the distance! ... It doesn't look like a Vault entrance, though..."

"Didn't one of the tapes say that the entrance was hidden in a garage? That might well be it", Dante pointed out. He turned to look at Vergil. "Are you ready to go or do you want to rest a bit more?"

"I'll rest when I'm dead. Let's go", the blue twin said, taking his usual place in the lead, walking ahead of the others towards the building in the distance.

The garage was quite empty inside, hosting a few cockroaches and mole rats. They looked around the place at first but didn't find anything useful, aside from two Stimpaks and some 10mm rounds. The entrance seemed well hidden at first, until one of them discovered a large hatch on the floor. Vergil searched the walls around it and found an electrical switch, that he then proceeded to activate. As the hatch opened it revealed a staircase leading down underground and two more mole rats. Further in there was another staircase leading even lower down, and a metal door at the end of them. Without questioning it, the four walked in through it. It took them to a tunnel that went even lower underground, and not long from there they came across a huge, round, metallic vault door that had the number 112 painted on it in the middle, and a control panel next to it.

"This is it", Samantha gasped. "I wonder if this Vault is still functional... Are there people inside? Like in 101?"

"One way to find out", Nero muttered, pulling the switch on the control panel. There was a sound that resembled an alarm, only not as loud and less... alarming. After a moment the door was pulled in with a screech, and then rolled aside, opening the entrance to the Vault itself.

Inside, the hallways were clean of dirt and irradiated waste, even the air felt cleaner to breathe. Everything was metal, the floor, the walls, the ceiling, the doors near the entrance were air-proof and thick, built very strong. They entered through the only door in the area, which took them to a short hallway with another door at the end of it. They advanced cautiously, since they had no idea what to expect. As the door opened, they were greeted by a robot.

"Welcome to Vault 112, residents! According to sensors, you have arrived 202,3 years behind schedule", the robot spoke. The four blinked, slightly confused and looked at each other. "Please re-dress in your Vault-Tec issued Vault suit before proceeding. If you have misplaced your suit, I am authorized to distribute a new one", the robot handed them four Vault 112 jumpsuits and shoes from a locked nearby. "Once dressed, please proceed down the stairs to the main floor so that you may enter your assigned Tranquility Lounger." With that, the robot stepped in front of the door leading to the main floor, insisting that the group changes their clothes to the Vault outfits.

"Okay, so... Guess we gotta change, huh..." Nero mumbled, looking at the other people in the room with him. He then glanced around the room itself, frowning. "... Privacy is too much to ask for, I guess."

"Well it's not like we don't have underwear on", Dante shrugged. "... Right?"

Vergil frowned. "Stop looking at me like that, of course I have underwear on."

"Please re-dress in your Vault-Tec issued Vault suit before proceeding", the robot repeated.

Nero dropped his coat off with a sigh and took the sleeveless hoodie off the armor suit underneath. "Ah, well... Wonder if getting out of this thing is easier than getting into it..."

Vergil clicked his tongue as he opened the leather coat he was wearing. As he was pulling it off, the collar brushed against the skin near one of the wounds and made him flinch slightly, instinctively raising one hand on them. He stayed still for a moment and turned to look at Dante, hand still on the wounds. "What happened to my ear?"

Dante looked at him with a smirk. "Yeah, it's gone."

"... Gone?"

"Oh I'm sorry, if I had known you'd want to carry it around with you, like in a pocket or something, I would've stopped to look for it", Dante snickered.

Vergil just stared at him for a while before sighing, looking around the room. "How bad is it, really? For reasons that should be obvious, I haven't seen this myself", he said and pointed at the large claw-marks on his head.

"Well, it's..." Nero started, then shrugged, tilting his head with a grimace. "... At least it's not on your face."

"Aw, kid, don't say it like that", Dante laughed. "They're pretty clean cuts, and mind you, some women find scars attractive."

The blue twin snorted. "You should also start changing. Wouldn't want to have to wait for you to finish stripping and dressing up. I imagine it's not pleasant to be the only one half-naked either." He picked up the jumpsuit and studied it for a moment. "Huh. Artificial leather... I always thought it was fabric."

"Yup, keeps you pretty warm in the Vault", Samantha said. She had gotten completely out of her armored 101 jumpsuit and was now zipping up the 112 suit. She was quick.

After everyone had changed into the suits, the robot allowed them to pass through the door to the main floor, which was through the door on their right, stairs down, turn left and stairs down. They didn't see any humans or 'vault dwellers', as Samantha called them. Instead, they were greeted by a large room with some kind of pods in a circle in the center. There was also another robot there, wandering around and keeping an eye on things. A quick walk around the area revealed there were 16 pods in total, of which 11 were occupied and one broken. There were people inside, men and women, everyone's head shaved bald and they seemed to be unaware of their surroundings. They were just staring blankly at the screen in front of them, as if in trance.

"Well this is... odd..." Samantha mumbled. "Are these the Tranquility Loungers that we're supposed to go into?"

"I'm willing to bet on it..." Nero muttered. "They don't look very safe, though... I mean look at these people. Let's just see if your dad's here or if he's already gone, save us the trouble." They circled around the pods, peeking into each of them to check if they could find James sitting in any of them. Quickly enough, Nero called the rest of them over. "This one dude's got hair on him", he said, pointing inside the pod. "Is it him?"

Samantha turned up the light on her Pip-Boy to see better and walked to the pod. She took a deep breath, sighing. "Yeah, that's him... That's my dad."

"Great, I was thinking if we'd ever catch up to him..." Vergil sighed. "Can you wake him up somehow? There's a terminal over there", he said, nodding towards a computer linked to the pod James was sitting in.

The girl walked over to the terminal and opened it. The green screen lit up and she read the text. "'Lounger #23 Monitor Station, Resident ID: unknown. Warning: Unverified resident status, okease check logs'..." She pressed a few buttons to open the status log. "'Pulse: 84 bpm, BP: 120/85 mmllg, Temp: 98,8 F, Respiratory Rate: 19/min'..." She frowned. "' Warning: Possible program corruption. Unable to verify Resident ID. Please consult a supervisor.'" She opened the second log. "'Stress Level: Elevated.'"

"That's all it says?" Dante asked. "No information on how to get him out of there?"

"That's all there is", Samantha said, closing the terminal. "I guess we're going in, then...? There are four pods that aren't occupied..."

"Well, isn't that convenient..." Vergil grunted, walking over to one of the pods. He pressed a button on it's side and the top part of the round pod was lifted off completely, so that the 'resident' could enter. He sighed, looking at the others. "Let's go then, huh..."

Everyone climbed into the comfortable-looking chair in the middle of the pods, and the tops immediately came back down, positioning a tv screen right in front of them. They barely had time to wonder what was going on before there was a sudden flash of light and a blackout.

* * *

Realized that the main subject on the chapter (kinda) changed at this point, so I cut this chapter in two. I can't stop writing a chapter somewhere in the middle and I just need to finish them on the day I start them and since I've already "started" the next chapter I just can't leave it there. So expect another update within the next few hours. :'D

Also, I don't know why I put the crippling injuries that my character gets on Vergil xD I guess it's that I don't want to give (much) extra scars to Dante or Nero, and Samantha is pretty much protected by the guys so nothing really happens to her anyway :D Damn animal scared the crap out of me, sneaking behind me and crippling my head with a single blow, hnngh.


	11. Chapter 11

Okay it took a bit longer than a few hours xD You know how it is, getting distracted, stuff to do appearing out of nowhere... the chapter ending up longer than you thought it would...

* * *

Chapter 11.

When Samantha came to, she found herself sitting on a bench in a place like she'd never seen before. In front of her, there was a small park area with trees. Trees with actual leaves on them, trees that weren't dead. There was grass on the ground too, and the road around the park was intact completely. Then she noticed the houses. There were six houses around the park circle, all built from wooden planks like she'd seen on some pictures in vault books. Everything was pre-war, in pre-war condition. It was almost as if she had been taken back in time, before the war happened 200 years ago. It was strange. And what made it even stranger was that everything, from the grass to the people walking on the streets of this pre-war town, was black and white. Or more like sepia, actually. She looked to her side and noticed a boy sitting next to her. He couldn't have been more than 10, and appeared to be just as confused as she was. That's when she spotted his arm, that had a disturbingly familiar mutation on it. "... Nero, is that you?" she asked, and was startled by her own voice. It sounded somehow high-pitched.

The boy turned to look at the girl next to him, staring into her eyes for a while before opening his mouth. "... Samantha?" He, too, was surprised to hear his own voice, and looked down at his body with a disapproving frown on his face. "What the hell, why are we kids!?"

 _'We?'_ Samantha looked at her own body. _'Oh.'_ "I don't know... I guess it's got something to do with the Tranquility Loungers..." She looked around the place once more. "... Didn't Dante and Vergil come here too? Where are they?"

"I don't know... Somewhere nearby, I think. Let's look around", Nero suggested. They didn't need to look very far, because as soon as they got up from the bench and turned around, they spotted two kids, looking around the same age he and Samantha had turned to, both with white hair. They were just some distance away behind the bench, sitting on some rocks underneath trees. One of them noticed the two and waved them over. As Nero approached the two with the girl, he shifted his gaze constantly from one boy to the other, a troubled frown forming on his face. "So um... Dante...?" he asked carefully while looking at the other one.

The boy looked up at him, face stoic as ever. "Guess again", he said.

"What? You can't tell us apart?" the other questioned, considerably more flamboyant than the one he'd just spoken to. Clearly this was Dante.

"Wha- Well in my defense, you two look exactly the same!" Nero exclaimed. Not even Vergil's scars were present to show which one was which, and their hair was down in a similar fashion.

Vergil sighed. "Yes, they could have at least given us different colored shirts or something..." he said and looked down at the t-shirt he was wearing. They were both wearing a dark shirt with light shorts that reached their knees.

The red twin snorted. "What color? Everything's fucking brown..."

"Sepia."

"Whatever!"

One of the wandering people in the area approached them. It was a man, and he looked just a bit too friendly to seem normal... "Hi there, sports! Isn't this a lovely day?" he asked cheerfully.

"Oh great, Andale all over again", Vergil grunted.

"You should go find Betty. She's expecting you in the middle of the park over there", he said, and with that he left the four alone and went back to whatever he was doing earlier.

"Betty, huh?" Nero snorted. "And why the hell should we go find this 'Betty'?"

"Maybe she has some answers..? I don't know", Samantha shrugged. "Let's go find out", she said and lead the four towards the small park. There they saw some playground things, a swing, a slide... then there was a dog and a little girl hanging around the place. Samantha walked to her.

"Oh! Someone new to play with! What a luck I'm having lately", the girl named Betty spoke as she spotted the group. "I was getting so bored. We're going to have so much fun."

"Where are we?" Samantha asked straightforwardly.

"This is Tranquility Lane. We all live here. And now, so do you", Betty replied, sounding somewhat ominous, but it was easy to miss.

"What? No we don't."

"You do now", the girl smirked. "You live here until I say you don't. ... Why don't we play a game?"

"A game?" Samantha asked, scratching the back of her head. "Okay, I guess..."

"I knew you would! It's a really simple game. All you have to do is to make Timmy Neusbaum cry!"

"That's it?" Vergil asked. "Sure, we'll make it happen. But do you know where this girl's father is? A guy named James?"

"Oh don't worry about it now!" Betty breathed out. "Just go make Timmy cry! Maybe we can discuss it later."

The three then walked further away from the strange little girl. Nero glanced back at her, as if to make sure she didn't follow. "Okay, what the fuck?"

"Who cares" Vergil sighed. He seemed extremely bored with the situation. "This is all obviously fake, a simulation caused by the Tranquility Lounge..." he said. "These people aren't real. These are just the minds of those sitting in those pods we saw in the Vault, and they appear to have no idea that this isn't the real world." He looked around at the other people near the houses, cheerfully talking to each other about some clothes catalog or something. "We could probably even kill them and they would just respawn or something."

"Yeah but still, that girl is messed up", Nero spoke under his breath, then sighed. "Okay, where can we find this Timmy kid?"

They didn't need to search far, because it appears that Timmy was the only other child aside from Betty in the simulation. The four walked up to him, sitting behind his lemonade stand. "Hi there, I'm Timmy!" he said. "Wanna play?"

Vergil stepped forward. "God, you sound like a wuss", he grunted, leaning on the stand. "I think I heard your parents talking... They're going to send you over to a military school. Because that's where little bitches like you can grow a pair!" Vergil snarled, and the little boy behind the stand seemed so scared it was a miracle he didn't wet himself. It only took a couple of seconds to go from trembling lower lip to out-and-out bawling, and Timmy got up from the chair and ran home crying for his mommy.

Dante stared at Vergil with his eyes blown open. "... Wow", he said, getting the other's attention. "That was... A little harsh, don't you think...? This place really has changed you..."

The other shrugged. "She wanted us to make him cry, right? Let's go back to Betty, see what else she wants before she tells us about the doctor..."

Nero blinked. "I'm actually quite amazed how you can still sound so menacing even though you're talking through a body of a 10-year-old..."

Betty seemed really excited when they returned to her. "Yay, you did it! You made Timmy cry!" she rejoiced. Then she put on her default expression, a mug smirk, and surprisingly her voice became much lower, and she started to sound like a grown man... "An interesting approach, not sure I would have considered it. Very encouraging", she - or he? - said, causing much confusion in the four due to sudden voice change. "Now, I will allow you to ask one question, and I will answer it frankly and honestly. Go on", Betty said.

"Just who are you?" Samantha asked, eyes blown open. The questions of her dad could wait. Because this was weird.

"I was known as Dr. Stanislaus Braun, but here I choose this identity", the person in front of them spoke. A German accent had appeared on the voice as it changed. "Do you find it unsettling? In this place I can choose to be whatever I wish, and this is what I have chosen." Then the voice went back to the little girl voice. "You'll find that I control a great deal around here."

"Why the hell would you want to look like a little girl?" Vergil asked, a hint of disgust in his voice.

"Why not? I have been in this place for two hundred years. This is something to keep me amused." The voice changed again. "Much like my willingness to entertain your questions. Though now I grow bored, so I think I shall set you to a new task."

"No, no more games. Just tell us what we want to know so nobody gets hurt", Vergil grunted.

"Ah, you fail to realize that you cannot hurt me. I control this place. Now, you do as I say, or no information of daddy. That's the deal here", Dr. Braun spoke. "Now let me give you the details of this task... Have you met the Rockwells yet? They're very happily married, and I'd like you to change that. Put and end to their marriage and we'll talk." With that, the man that looked like a little girl waved the group off.

"I'm getting the feeling that this guy wants us to ruin all of these people's lives... Or at least bully them. First Timmy, now this couple..." Nero mubmled as they walked further from . "There's no way he'll tell us all we want to hear after just two 'tasks'..."

"You're probably right..." Dante sighed. "But I guess we don't really have a choice. Let's just find the Rockwells and see how we should approach this um... task."

They tried asking around the town about the couple and their marriage, but nobody would tell them anything useful. Mainly because, well, to them they just seemed like 10-year-old kids asking about adult stuff they shouldn't be thinking about. It wasn't hard to find the Rockwell residence, however, as there were only six houses and the mailboxes had names on them.

"So how should we do this?" Nero whispered as they were walking around the house where the couple lived. The two were home at the present, but like everyone else, they wouldn't talk about their marriage to a bunch of kids. Dr. Braun was probably laughing at them for it. "Should we just straight-up lie to them? That may have worked with Timmy but these are adults, they won't believe us without evidence."

"Then we have to make up evidence..." Vergil stated. He looked around the house and walked upstairs, where the four found the bedroom. Inside, they found a book that seemed like a diary resting on a nightstand by the beds.

Samantha went to pick it up and opened it from the latest entry, and began reading quietly. "'I just don't know what to do anymore. When Roger's not in that stupid basement, he's outside sweet talking that hussy, Martha Simpson. He claims there's nothing between them, but I know it's all a lie.'"

"Oh, a love triangle..." Dante snorted. "Does it continue?"

The girl nodded, returning her eyes to the book. "'I found a woman's pendant once, on Roger's workbench. But of course, I said nothing. That's me, Janet Rockwell, prim and proper housewife, living a perfect life here on Tranquility Lane. Some days I wish I really had beat her to death with that rolling pin. Then Roger would know I'm the only girl in the world.'"

Vergil smirked with a snort. "So, shall we go beat Martha Simpson to death with Mrs. Rockwell's rolling pin?"

Samantha furrowed her brows into a worried frown, closing the book and placing it back where it was. "I'd rather really not do that... Maybe we could find a more... subtle solution. Peaceful, I mean. Betty... or Dr. Braun... didn't tell us to kill anyone."

Nero thought for a while. "Well, she found a pendant but didn't say anything... Do you think if she found something more suggesting she would act...?"

"To Martha Simpson's house, then!" Dante declared, and the group did just that.

Looking from the direction of the park, the Simpson residence was the house directly to the left from the Rockwells' house. Upon entering they noted that despite looking almost identical to every house on Tranquility Lane, the layout was a bit different inside. Not that it mattered, though, as the four went up to the bedroom almot immediately after setting foot inside. All of them were thinking the same thing, it seems. Because what would be more suggestive than another woman's underwear.

"Oh, hey I found uh... I found... Ugh..." Nero wrinkled his nose as he held up the object with just the tips of his fingers.

Dante turned to look what he'd found. "Oh look. It's even got lace on it", he snickered. The thing Nero was holding was a full-body lacy underwear, the see-through type. "Just carry it normally, c'mon."

"She wears this on her naked body, I don't want to touch it", Nero groaned and tossed the lacy underwear at Dante, who caught it in his hands.

"Great", Vergil said. "Now that we've got what we came for, should we head back to the Rockwells right away? Plant the evidence and be done with it?"

"Sure, let's do this", Dante replied, hiding the underwear under his shirt to keep it hidden from Martha and other adults they would come across.

Back at the Rockwells, the four headed to the basement, where Mrs. Rockwell had wrote she found the pendant. They placed the lacy underwear right on the nearest desk they could find and went back upstairs to confront the couple.

As they got to the kitchen where Janet Rockwell was sitting, Vergil was pushed ahead of the rest, and therefore half-forced to do the talking. He took a step closer to the woman, looking at her in the eyes. "You'd better come down to the basement. There's something you need to see", he spoke.

"What were you doing in our basement?" the woman blinked. "What's down there?"

"Just trust me, it's important."

Janet shrugged and smiled. "Okay, if you say so." As they went downstairs, the woman immediately spotted the underwear. "What? Women's clothing? Here?" She then turned to look at Vergil. "What the hell is this?"

Vergil tilted his head in an innocent manner. "Looks like your husband is..." he thought for a moment, and had to hold back a smirk. "a fan of women't clothing."

Mrs. Rockwell seemed really confused. "But... This isn't mine. What is this doing here?"

"Maybe it's his", Vergil shrugged, still with the innocent act. "You know, for him to wear when no one is looking..." He could hear Dante coughing behind him to hide his snickering, and Nero sharply jabbing him in the ribs to make him put on a serious face.

"Oh my God. Roger... He wouldn't. But..." Mrs. Rockwell went silent, then turned around and started walking back upstairs. The four saw it appropriate to follow. As the woman exited the basement, she met her husband standing near the front door. "Roger, you son of a bitch!" she exhaled with an angry, yet frustrated tone.

The man seemed startled. "What? What did I do?"

"Did you think I wouldn't find out? What kind of a sicko are you!" Janet almost yelled at him.

"Janet, calm down! What are you talking about?"

"You **know** what I'm talking about! You spend all that time in that basement and I've never questioned it!"

"What's wrong with being in the basement?" Roger was seriously confused. Though he had a good reason to be since, as far as the four knew, he was completely innocent. "What the hell is going on?"

"You pervert... You disgust me. Just... Stay away from me!" Janet shouted and out of the house, leaving Roger standing there with his mouth open.

Nero blinked a couple of times. "... Back to Betty now?"

"I guess..." Samantha mumbled, and the group sneaked past the now ex-husband.

"You have turned out to be quite resourceful, it seems. I am slightly impressed", the man in the little girl's body said as the four returned to him again. "I enjoy your company far more than your father's. He responded quite negatively to my requests."

Samantha stepped forward. "We did what you wanted. Now you have some explaining to do."

"You have amused me thus far, but I still don't think you're quite in a position to be demanding anything", Dr. Braun said, crossing his or her arms. "Still, I suppose you have earned the right to some further answers... So, what would you ask of me?"

"Where's my father now?" the girl asked.

"He's here, and he is unharmed. He has merely been rendered unable to bother me", Dr. Braun answered blankly.

Samantha frowned. "I want to see him. Where is he?"

"If you continue to behave, and do as I ask, I may be willing to release both of you. But first you have work to do", the man spoke, a grin forming on his little girl's face.

"Fine... Let's just get this over with."

"Oh, come now, show some enthusiasm!" the man laughed before continuing. "There are fewer rules this time. I'd like to see just what you're capable of. I'd like you to kill Mabel Henderson. Please put some effort into it; do something creative. Beating her to death won't impress me."

Samantha sighed. "... I don't want to do this, but I guess I don't have a choice... I'll do it."

"Of course you will!" Dr. Braun's Betty-voice was back. "And you never know... you might enjoy it." Then he waved the group off and went back to watering the plants around her with a children's watering can.

"Is it just me, or are these tasks getting more and more dark each time we're given a new one...?" Nero whispered. "... Are we going to leave this to Vergil, too?"

"I have to do everything?" the blue twin sighed. "Well, we saw the Henderson house when we were looking for Rockwell... This way." He led the rest of them to one of the houses, where they started searching for ways to creatively murder its resident... There were actually many options to choose from. A robot that could easily be hacked to go insane, a chandelier that could be tampered with to make it fall on top of Mrs. Henderson... Vergil did what he did best. Smashed something. He walked up to the oven, opened it and broke something inside. He then walked up to Mrs. Henderson. Once again putting on the innocent little boy act. "I heard you bake really tasty pies. Can you make one for me?" he asked.

"Well sure I can, sweetie", the woman replied warmly. "Let me just go light up the oven to get it warming up", she spoke and walked over to the kitchen.

"You guys may want to stay back", Vergil whispered to the people following him, and they all stood in the door frame to see as Mrs. Henderson walked to the oven. She didn't need to do anything else but to turn a valve, and in less than a second she was engulfed in a fiery explosion that took her life in an instant. The smell of burning meat filled the air. "Done. Back to Betty?"

Samantha whimpered. "Back to Betty..."

"Appliances certainly can be dangerous, can't they?" Dr. Braun smiled. "You are most resourceful, and you certainly do get results. You have exceeded my expectations. And now, we come to the last task I have for you... Succeed, and you shall be granted whatever you wish."

"How do we know you're being honest with us?" Dante asked, crossing his arms on his chest.

"I think you'll find that I've been quite honest with you thus far. You have no discernible reason to mistrust me", the man replied. "Now, in the dog house out behind the abandoned home are a mask and knife. Don the mask, and become the Pint-Sized Slasher. He is a figure of myth, born of old campfire stories. You will make him a reality. The residents will know you, and they will fear you. When they have all been eliminated, return to me."

Samantha pulled the rest of their small group closer to her. "Shit, guys, I don't want to kill all these people..." she sighed. "I mean even if this isn't the real world and they will just be resurrected over and over again, they're still minds of real people that are trapped in the Tranquility Loungers. It just doesn't seem fair."

"But do we have a choice?" Vergil snorted. "Dr. Braun has probably been killing and resurrecting these people throughout the 200 years they've bee locked in here. Even if they did find a way out of the simulation, they would all just die. Their bodies aren't in working condition anymore."

As they were walking towards the abandoned house, they were spotted by an old, dark skinned woman. She seemed surprised, and very distressed. The woman walked directly towards the four and looked at them. "You. You can find it. You're not supposed to be here. He can't stop you. It's not real, none of it! It needs to end... The suffering must end!"

Samantha exhaled with relief. "Finally, someone who knows what's going on!" she smiled. "How do we get out of here?"

"We're not really here. We're not really talking. It's all made-up, make-believe. We're sleeping, dreaming. The dream became a nightmare. It has to end, it just has to. But we're not in charge. He is, and he doesn't want us to wake up", the old woman spoke hurriedly, like she was afraid of something.

"How come you're the only one who seems to know this?" Vergil questioned, quirking an eyebrow.

"Don't know. Can't sleep sometimes... Hear voices... My own skin doesn't feel right. None of this is right. You've got to believe me! You've got to find that failsafe!"

"A failsafe? What are you talking about?" Nero asked.

"It's in the abandoned house. He doesn't want us going in there, because he's afraid we might find it. It's the only terminal to the outside; the only way to shut the whole thing down. You've got to find it", the woman said, pointing towards the abandoned house entrance. She then glanced to Betty's direction, as if to see if she was being watched, and walked away, pretending to be like everyone else in Tranquility Lane.

Samantha looked at the guys. "I guess we're going inside the house, then." The others nodded in agreement.

As they entered through the door, they were greeted by a very disorganized lower level of the house, furniture laying here and there, a garden gnome, a cinder block... The place was dark and rather eerie, but there were no sign of any terminals around.

Nero stopped near the door as he looked around the lower floor. There was an empty Nuka-Cola bottle on a small table beside him, and he tried its surface with his finger absentmindedly. He quickly snapped out of it and pulled his hand back as the bottle made a sound. A quiet chime, followed by a voice that resembled the sound you get when you enter an incorrect password somewhere. "Uh, guys?"

"I noticed", Vergil said. He looked around and walked to the garden gnome not too far away, poking it with his finger. It made a higher chime sound, followed by the same error sound. Samantha and Dante, too, started poking the objects near the front door, finding that most of them made sound on contact, all a different kind of a chime.

Dante stopped for a while to think, then poked the radio on the coffee table again. "This one only chimes, the other sound doesn't occur." Then he poked it again. "Ah, there it is."

Samantha lifted her head and stared at the Dante. "... Do you think there's like some specific order these things should be touched?"

"It certainly seems that way", Vergil agreed, walking over to touch the radio again, making it chime. He then looked around and touched a glass pitcher right next to it. Seeing how it didn't make the error sound when it was touched after the radio, the theory was confirmed. Now they just needed to find the right order.

After several failed attempts, they discovered that the order in which the objects needed to be touched was; radio, pitcher, gnome, pitcher, cinder block, gnome, bottle. After they got the last sound out, one of the walls in the room turned into an entire terminal system, with a keyboard and a screen attached to it.

Samantha walked over to it, opening the logs first, as she noticed that Dr. Braun had kept them. They seemed to be journal entries, sort of. The first one was called 'Tougan Lagoon' and described Brauns thoughts of being bored to the sunshine and waves, and hearing Neusbaum be devoured by a mako shark. The next one was also about a previous simulation, called 'Slalom Chalet'. It said Braun and the residents had been in that location for 23 years before he grew bored and switched to the current one, called 'Tranquility Lane'. Samantha returned to the main screen and read the very first line and option on it. "'Access 'Chinese Invasion' Program'", she read out loud, clicking it with a questioning frown. "Program documentation..."

" _Dr. Braun,_

 _Here is the revised code for the military training program you've expressed interest in. I'm not sure exactly what you want with it, and I again stress that this program was never designed to run with civilian equipment. Frankly, I don't expect any system you have access to can even run it. But if you can run this program with the Failsafes off, as requested... your real-world test subjects_ _ **will**_ _die if killed in the simulation. It goes without saying that, officially, I denied your request. General Constantine Chase._ "

"Then there's this, Dr. Braun's own entry about the failsafe", the girl spoke and opened another file.

" _There are days I consider finally "pulling the plug," as it were, and putting a permanent end to both this simulation, and my life. That is the reason I requested installation of General Chase's Chinese invasion program, after all. By disabling the safety protocols, I have ensured that each subject in_ _Vault 112_ _will physically die if their in-simulation avatars are killed. Real-world death. End of simulation. The perfect failsafe. At least it would have been, if not for my own misjudgment. I knew, when the simulation first went online, that the secondary safeties those established for all_ _Vault-Tec_ _and_ _military personnel_ _would prevent my own real-world demise in the event of a Failsafe execution. In the end, I would kill the subjects, and save myself. I wouldn't want it any other way. Or so I thought. It's true the Failsafe would scare the living hell out of every resident in Tranquility Lane, and lead to their brutal deaths. But then what about me? I have no ability to disable my own safety from within the simulation. And any other avatars I could create would be driven by the simulation's_ _A.I._ _routines, not actual living, thinking,_ _human_ _subjects. Where's the fun in tormenting a machine? And so, the release of the real-world subjects subjects is more than they deserve, more that I could bear. They'd be dead, and I'd be left here in Tranquility Lane, alone and tragically bored for all eternity. I can think of nothing more unacceptable._ "

"... I think it's pretty clear what we've gotta do", Nero grunted. "I wish we could avoid killing all these people, but it's either permanent death or an eternity in the hands of this asshole who would just virtually kill them over and over again... That way Braun would win."

Samantha sighed deeply, slumping her shoulders. She navigated to the top option, reading 'Initiate 'Chinese Invasion' Failsafe', and pressed enter before she could change her mind. The program started running and noise came from outside. There was shooting, and as the exited the abandoned house they saw a group of Chinese soldiers brutally gunning down everyone in Tranquility Lane, excluding Betty and the dog that was at the park area also. They weren't hostile towards any of the four. The group advanced to the small park after every resident of the town had fallen.

"Do you realize what you've done? You've triggered the Failsafe! Ruined everything! The subjects will die, and I'll be stuck here in this hell! Alone!" Dr. Braun yelled at them as they approached. "You've ruined everything! **Everything!** "

"It's all over. Now shut up and answer our questions", Vergil growled. "We came here for Samantha's father, where is he?"

"He's been right here the whole time, and you were too dense to figure it out. The dog, you see", Dr. Braun sighed, boredly, and pointed at the dog circling around the park. All four turned to look at the animal with more or less confused expressions. "Man's best friend. But now you've taken all my friends from me."

"Friends", the blue twin snorted. "Yeah, right. Well, we'll be going now. Have a great rest of the eternity."

The group turned their back to Dr. Braun and walked to a floating door that had appeared in the center of the park, and served as the exit to the real world. They opened the door, and in an instant a bright flash of light, similar from the time when they had first entered the pods, blinded each of them, fading into another blackout.

* * *

By the way, when I first planned this fic, I was thinking of making the DMC characters part of the FO3 universe, where Vergil served as the main character. Because, well, the whole searching for father theme xD I dropped that but I actually made a Vergil-character in-game (and he was hella ugly) that I started to play as if it was Vergil making the decisions. And it was... amazing. Made him the perfect daddy's boy that would in this case mean a huge nerd, science and medical skills along with melee maxed out, as well as intelligence. No guns because Vergil. Certainly interesting. :D


	12. Chapter 12

One of the reasons I'm updating this more than the other fics recently is that my apartment is really cold and playing Fallout 3 heats up the xbox quite nicely, which in turns warms the room a little bit. The radiators are on full power, I'm wearing a thick hoodie and woolly socks that reach my knees and still, it's just too damn cold... Gotta get some tea and the blanket from my bed, too. I envy you who live in southern countries without winters around -30 Celsius... And the ones that have decent heating in their homes.

* * *

This chapter is slightly shorter than the others, and it was difficult to add the DMC characters into it :'D Oh well. Should be easier in the next chapter.

* * *

Chapter 11.

The pod opened as Nero woke up from the simulation. It didn't feel much different from waking up from a short nap, and as he looked around he saw some of the other pods opening. The pods that Dante, Samantha and Vergil had climbed into and one extra... He climbed down from the seat and walked closer to the center of the room, and met the others there.

"Dad", Samantha smiled as the middle-aged man in a vaul jumpsuit walked to them.

"You saved me... I was afraid I would be trapped there forever", James exhaled, then smiled with relief. "It's so good to see you... But... What are you doing here?" he asked, sounding slightly confused. "And who are you with?"

"Oh, I uh... I met them near Megaton when... It's a long story..." Samantha chuckled. "I came here to find you."

"Well, I'm glad you did. This certainly wasn't how I expected things to turn out. I wasn't ready for Braun, or I might've fared better", the man spoke.

"Did you get the information you needed? About this... G.E.C.K.?"

"I did indeed", James said. "Braun's work, the G.E.C.K., was designed to re-adapt environments for living after a nuclear war. It's not entirely stable, but I'm sure that components of that technology are just what we need, what we've been missing all this time", he spoke in a thoughtful manner. "I need to return to Rivet City. Once Madison knows about the G.E.C.K., I can get her to see that it really will work."

Samantha frowned. "But... What about me? What should I do?"

"Yes, what about you?" her father muttered, then frowned. "Why, in fact, are you outside the Vault at all? I don't even want to know **how** you got out", he spoke, sounding a bit angry, but just a bit. "As much as I appreciate your help, you were supposed to stay there, to make a life for yourself there, not out here."

"You left without saying goodbye. What was I supposed to do?" the girl spoke defensively.

"You were supposed to stay put. You could've had a good life in the Vault. But I suppose it's too late to go back now, isn't it? The Overseer would likely have us shot on sight..." James sighed. "Well, then you'll just have to come with me to Rivet City. You've certainly proven yourself capable enough."

"Well... Okay", Samantha smiled.

"That's my girl", the man grinned. "We should get going. Now that I have what we need, I want to get to work as soon as possible."

"Wait", Samantha interrupted. "What exactly is this 'Project Purity'?"

James smiled. "It started as an idea, really. Remember the Bible passage your mother loved so much? Free, clean water for everyone. What a difference it could make in the lives of everyone here in the Wastes. Over time, that idea took the form of a purifier. Not like the one in the Vault, though. This one was gigantic, capable of purifying millions of gallons of water at once. We used the old Jefferson Memorial for the location, right on DC's Tidal Basin. Someday soon, I hope you'll see it work."

"That's a noble goal, doc", Vergil snorted. "What happened to the project?"

"In the year Samantha was born things became difficult. There had always been something of a 'mutant problem' in the city, but it became worse. They attacked more frequently, and more aggressively. Support for the project eroded as time went on, when we couldn't produce any significant results. Progress came to a halt. And then you were born", James spoke and turned to look at Samantha. "Your mother and I had talked about what to do when that time came, but then I... We lost her, and I had to make a decision. I chose to leave. From what I understand, things happened quickly after that. It became too dangerous for the others to stay, and so the project was abandoned. Doctor Li and her team left for what became Rivet City, and Project Purity has sat waiting ever since."

"Okay, so... Let's get going then", Samantha said.

As the four exited the Vault, then the garage, they started walking towards Rivet City led by James. He had apparently ditched the lab coat, as he only wore the Vault 101 jumpsuit when they met him. The robot at the entrance had apparently mistaken it for Vault 112 jumpsuit, since it hadn't made him change before entering. After quite a bit of walking, Dante spotted something in the distance.

"... How is that one building still intact? There are even lights in the windows", he asked and pointed at a tall multistorey-building further away.

James turned to look the way Dante was pointing. "That's Tenpenny Tower. Survived the bombing with sheer luck. If it's the same as it was 20 years ago, it's inhabited by rich and self-centered fools. Nothing but trouble, that place. I suggest you stay clear of it."

Vergil walked closer to the two other white haired men in Samantha's company. "Why are we still following the girl around? She found her father."

"Do you have a better idea?" Dante snorted. "It's better than walking around aimlessly. We might still find something that will help us get home."

It was already morning when they reached Rivet City. Despite having traveled the whole night, none of them were tired. It might have had something to do with being in the Tranquility Lane simulation for a while. In Rivet City they immediately went to the Science Lab, where Doctor Li usually spent her time. James walked right to her, and they talked briefly while the rest listened to their conversation.

"I told you it would work, Madison, and now I can prove it", James said.

"James! You're back!" Doctor Li gasped in surprise.

"And with good news. I was right about Braun and the G.E.C.K. If we can find one, we can adapt it to work with the purifiers."

"I'd like to believe you, James. Really I would. This is all just so... So sudden."

"Madison, I'm telling you this is real. I talked to Braun himself. He confirmed it. Don't you see? This is what we've been waiting for!"

"I... I don't know, James. So many years have passed. Is it really still worth trying?" She sounded unsure, like she had given up, while Samantha's father seemed more excited than ever.

"How could it not be worth improving the lives of everyone in the Wasteland? What could be a more worthy endeavor?"

"You haven't lost any of your passion, have you James..." Doctor Li sighed.

"It's as important to me as ever, Madison. I know it's important to you too. Let's finish this together."

"James, I... We don't have a G.E.C.K. I can get a small team together, but we'll need proof that it works before people believe us."

"I know, I was thinking about that. The lab at the facility had some old pre-war computers that we scavenged. One of them might be useful."

"From the last reports, there's no power at the facility. Even if one of those computers had a database, we couldn't access it."

"That's why we're going to head over there right now and get things up and running as best we can."

"You know if it were anyone else asking me to do this, I'd have them run right out of Rivet City."

"And you know I wouldn't be here if I didn't think this would really work. It's time, Madison."

"Damn you, James", Doctor Li snorted. "When this is all over, you owe me a drink. I'll get the team together."

James smiled. "Thank you, Madison. It's good to be working with you again." As the woman moved away from James, the man turned to look at his daughter, motioning her closer. "We need to get back to Project Purity. The computers there are our best chance of locating the G.E.C.K."

"Won't that be dangerous?" the ginger haired girl asked.

"Probably. But we have to try, won't we? It's too important to the people of the Wasteland to let fear stop us now. We need to get moving right away. Are you coming with us?"

"Of course I am. Let's go."

James smiled with a sigh. "That's my girl."


End file.
